Possessed by a Dark Warrior (40 page)

Thorne looked up at her. “The one from Archangel?”

She swallowed hard, glanced at her mate with fear in her eyes and then at Bleu. “He said something to Emelia when he came for me… something about tracking down the dragon who had hurt her and slaying it.”

“Well, he is wreaking havoc in the dragon realm, so I would suggest you remain away from that place.” Bleu ran his hand over his hair, blew out his breath and held her gaze, not hiding his concern from her.

“Sable will be safe here.” Thorne rose onto his feet, towering over Bleu on the raised platform. “But we thank you for the information. You may leave now.”

The russet-haired male was a good few inches taller than him without the added height of the platform, and while such a tactic would have worked on him once, intimidating him and making him itch to fight the bastard for thinking he could look down on him, it didn’t bother him at all this time.

Sable’s golden gaze questioned him. He knew he was acting differently. Before, he would have been curt and would have left straight after delivering his message to spare himself the pain of seeing her with Thorne. Now, he wanted to leave so he could return to Taryn.

“I am not done,” he said and Sable spoke over him.

“You seem well.”

Bleu frowned, thought about what she had said, and then rolled his shoulders beneath his dark jacket when he realised that he was. “I am well. I am very well indeed.”

She smiled slightly. “I’m glad to hear that.”

Thorne grumbled something in the demon tongue and looked close to snagging his mate’s arm and pulling her nearer to him. Sable tossed her mate a chiding look.

The big demon king folded his meaty arms across his chest, narrowed his red gaze on Bleu, and drew down a deep breath. Stilled. Grinned in a manner Bleu didn’t like.

“Does your improved mood have anything to do with the dragon I can smell all over you?” Thorne’s grin stretched wider as he preened the dark horns that curled from behind his ears with the air of a male satisfied with himself.

Bleu shot him down with a black glare.

“Thorne,” Sable snapped and cuffed him across his left shoulder, earning a glare from her mate. She turned her gaze on Bleu. “I’m sorry. He’s been horribly bored and he’s taking it out on everyone. Not a day goes by when he doesn’t get himself into some sort of trouble.”

“You will not be bored soon,” Bleu said and the demon’s eyes lit up. “The reason I came here was because a dragon has the elven sword and Taryn saw a vision—”

“Taryn?” Sable interjected and smiled again. “Pretty name. Is she pretty, Bleu?”

He ignored her. Taryn wasn’t pretty. She was beautiful.

“The dragon will battle us in the elf kingdom,” he continued in a gruff tone, blanking the way Sable’s smile widened, a knowing edge to her expression. He was growing tired of being teased by everyone. His relationship with Taryn was none of their business.

“Us?” Thorne growled, but Bleu could see he was secretly relishing the thought of going to war again.

He nodded. “The fastest route for the dragon is through your realm, followed by the First or Second. I have sent men to those realms to warn them to evacuate villages in the possible path of the dragon, or shore them up with more warriors… but I recommend the former. The sword this dragon wields is powerful.”

“I have heard the legends,” Thorne said, his deep voice little more than a rumble as his rough features turned pensive. He rubbed his right thumb across his lower lip and frowned. “I will evacuate the villages along the border with the dragon realm and send a legion of my warriors there.”

His red eyes flicked up to meet Bleu’s, a touch of warning in his narrowed gaze.

“I must go and see to it.” The demon male meant to leave him alone with his mate, but he didn’t have to worry. He had no intention of delaying his return to the elf kingdom.

The damned pool was probably close to overflowing now and he couldn’t stay away from Taryn any longer. The ache behind his breast had grown too fierce, a mad throb that demanded he return to his female and make sure that she was safe, and then kiss her until she was breathless but panting for more.

Bleu nodded as Thorne passed him, bent his head to Sable, and willed his portal to open and whisk him back to his waiting mate.

Sable stopped him by speaking. “You look happy… and I’ve never seen you happy before.”

He paused, frowned and then realised that it was true.

Bleu smiled at her. “That would be because I have not been happy in a very long time… since I gave up on finding my mate.”

Her eyes widened and he teleported before she could say anything.

Eager to return to that mate.

Taryn paced her quarters, bare feet silent on the dark stone floor. It was surprisingly warm beneath them, smooth and silken. She could almost see the appeal of living in such a place over a cave. Almost. She turned when she reached the wall and the low cabinets that ran along it and paced back towards the other end of the large room, her eyes fixed unseeingly on the three dark wardrobes that lined it to the left of the opening to the bathing room.

The sound of water thundering into the pool had grown quieter during the time she had been pacing, a sign that it was getting full.

Where was Bleu?

His scent lingered in the air, but it wasn’t enough to soothe her. The castle was quiet around her, but she could sense people moving around below her, and could occasionally hear them outside. She had found the courage to open the twin tall glass doors to the right of the bed early into her wait, and had been pleasantly surprised to find a balcony outside them that ran along the length of the room.

The view from it was stunning.

She had never seen anything so beautiful.

It had held her transfixed for long minutes in which her eyes had delighted in watching the colours of the rolling landscape that stretched into the distance to meet with great cragged black mountains change as the light of the elf kingdom waned. The sky had changed colour, becoming a fiery glow.

Was that what a sunset in the mortal world would look like?

She had heard tales from Loke about the mortal realm, passed down to him from his parents before he had lost them in the dragon wars, but she hadn’t been able to imagine anything as beautiful as what she had seen from the balcony of her room.

She could have passed the entire wait for Bleu on that balcony but a combination of fearing the pool would overflow, getting her into trouble with the elves, and the barked orders of a troop of soldiers in the courtyard below had driven her back inside. None of the soldiers marching around the quieter side of the castle grounds her balcony overlooked had noticed her, but she had promised Bleu she would remain safe inside and the thought that they might see her and report to him that she had been outside didn’t sit well with her.

She had seen her elf male angry and she didn’t want to be on the receiving end of it.

Gods, what had he done to her?

She couldn’t believe the effect he had on her, how fiercely she needed him and desired to please him. No other male had affected her this way and she knew deep in her heart that it had nothing to do with the fact that he was her fated one.

It had everything to do with her growing feelings for him.

Taryn tried to push him out of her thoughts but the sound of running water kept him firmly in her mind.

He had promised to return before the pool was full.

She diverted course and checked on it, frowned when she saw that the level of the water was only inches from the brim of the low wall surrounding the deep rectangular pool now.

He wasn’t going to make it.

She clenched her fists and then flexed her fingers, splaying them wide open, before curling them back into fists again.

Gods, she needed him back with her.

Thinking about his offer had stirred her hunger, the need of him that seemed impossible to satisfy. She growled, the sound vibrating up her throat, and paced the bathing room instead. She caught her reflection in the mirrors above the basins to her left and frowned. Her eyes glowed brightly, on fire with her hunger.

She needed Bleu.

That need pounded in her blood, drumming in her veins, a fast rhythm that had her breathing accelerating as she studied her reflection. She skimmed her hands down her dirty white corset, over her curves and up to her breasts, cupping them before caressing up her chest to her hair. She tangled her hands in it and lifted it away from her throat, tipped her head to one side. Would Bleu like to see her neck?

Would it drive him mad as he drove her crazy with need?

She wanted to push him to his limit. She wanted him to desire her as fiercely as she desired him.

She searched the room, speeding from the wardrobes to the drawers in the cabinets on the opposite side of the room. There were items in both. She picked a beautiful dress similar to the one the prince’s mate had worn, but this one was cream.

Taryn held it up and paused.

What was she doing?

She had never dressed to impress any male before. Dragon males cared little about fashion. If a female wanted them, they were happy to service her needs. Even dragon females rarely wore more than leather trousers.

She had always chosen to cover her top half too.

Perhaps she was more different to the females of her species than she had realised. She had never indulged in the free sex willingly offered by the males of her kind whenever a female was needing, had never even considered approaching a male in such a manner when she had felt an urge to mate. The dragons of her village had always whispered about her, the females wondering whether something was wrong with her because she didn’t pursue the males as they did, showed none of the passionate drive to mate that they had. They had started talking about her more when she had matured and had started to wear a corset to cover her breasts.

Now she was standing in an elf castle, staring at a dress, considering wearing it in order to seduce a male.

The females of her species viewed the correct attire for a seduction as nothing. If they desired the attention and cock of a male, they stripped bare and went to them.

They definitely didn’t cover themselves up even more, and donning a dress was doing exactly that.

Taryn eyed it, put her left hand behind the layers of sheer fabric, and lifted it, letting the soft material run over her palm.

It was beautiful though.

When Bleu had changed before leaving for the demon realms, he had put on more clothing, and part of her had felt that he had done it to attract her eye. He had been making himself more appealing, more alluring, by dressing in such striking attire. Gods, the way it had hugged his figure.

She had wanted to peel it off him slowly.

Had been thinking about doing such a thing the entire time he had been gone.

The need was so fierce now that she ached just thinking about unbuttoning the tunic and slowly parting it to reveal his powerful honed body.

She bit her lip and squeezed her thighs together when the ache reached there, making her damp with need.

She wanted such power over her male. She wanted to dress in a way that would have him aching for her, mad with a need to have her, to strip her slowly and savour revealing her to his eyes.

Taryn turned, tossed the dress on the bed and stripped off. She kicked her corset and trousers into the corner of the room with her boots, strode to the bed and picked up the dress.

She had never worn one before, but they couldn’t be that difficult to master. She sifted through the layers of the skirt, grumbled a few choice curses beneath her breath when she couldn’t find the damned centre of them, and huffed. A different approach was needed.

She spotted the lacing on the back of the dress.

Smiled.

If she loosened it, she might be able to step into the dress and pull it up over her hips.

She tugged on the bow at the top of the lacing, worked her fingers down the criss-cross of the ribbons, and opened the dress up. She pooled it on the floor, stepped into it, grabbed the two sides of the corset, and pulled it up. Wriggled when it got stuck on her hips. Sighed when it finally hit her waist and easily came up to her breasts.

Getting the lacing done back up was another fight.

She turned in circles as she reached over her back, snagging the first lace easily but struggling with the second.

Gods!

She growled and stretched harder, grimacing as her shoulder hurt. Stupid dress. She finally caught the second lace, tugged them both up and pulled a face when she reached a point where she could barely breathe. She padded into the bathing room and looked at her reflection.

She did look stunning though.

The cream material hugged her torso, accentuating her waist and her breasts.

She smiled wickedly and tied the bow, and then hurried back to the wardrobes. A flicker of disappointment went through her. There wasn’t a corset to go with the dress. She had hoped to find one similar to that which the prince’s mate had worn. It had looked uncomfortable, but it had been pretty.

She could almost feel her eyes sparkling. Her fingers itched and she flexed them as she thought about the corset. It had glittered. Silver. Shiny.

She swayed on the spot and then snapped herself back to the room.

Now wasn’t the time to get lost in thinking about treasure.

She moved to the drawers in the cabinets across the room and rifled through the one that had contained many different trinkets.

All of them treasure.

Gods, she had to hide them somewhere. They weren’t safe where they were.

She growled as she lifted the skirt of her dress and bundled everything into it, every shiny object in every drawer. Her skirt was heavy by the time she had found all of them. She scanned the room, swinging around in a circle, her heart pounding rapidly as she searched for a safe place to stow her prizes.

A pained snarl escaped her.

Nowhere was safe in this damned room.

This was why caves were better.