Chapter 39
CHAPTER
THIRTY-NINE
It has been three months since I was crowned, and my life is falling into a routine.
I share my bed with my men or a man each night.
They come to me based on need, and I never question it.
They take that decision from me, and for that I’m grateful, since I have so many choices I need to make every day.
We are rebuilding our court to accept everyone, and the renovations are nearly complete. It keeps me busy every day, as do trivial court matters, but every time I turn, my mates are there.
Even now, I feel them.
Luan lingers in my head, and Frost’s frame brushes against me. His dragon wants to fly with me again even though we did it last night. I haven’t gotten any of his powers yet, but I’m definitely stronger and faster.
Corbin’s bear snarls in my head, demanding attention, and I laugh. Their bonds allow me to find them whenever I want, but they also allow us to speak like this.
Bellami isn’t jealous, which I’m grateful for. He knows we share another bond they couldn’t understand. We feed from one another, no one else, and the power between us only continues to grow.
They make me happier than I could have ever imagined.
I’m not the same woman I was before, but that’s okay. They love me as I am, scarred and all, and I love me too, but part of me still aches.
I hope he’s happy and free, even if I miss him.
All we did was argue, threaten to kill each other, and fuck, but he was here when I needed him and soft when I didn’t expect it. He cared for me, and the thought of what we could have had haunts me.
I forget about him as much as I can, but when the world slows, that tug between us remains.
Desire for him burns deep inside me, waking me from my sleep, and I leave the bed and the others snoring, finding myself on the roof garden instead.
Lying amongst the flowers, I stare at the dark sky and think of him.
The shadows dance across me like a lover’s touch, and I close my eyes, wishing they were his.
Suddenly, they turn to hands. Gasping, I jerk upright and whirl around, finding him there with an evil grin on his face.
“Eversor,” I whisper.
My heart skips a beat as I stare at him. He looks the same as before, as if he never left, and I have the strangest urge to cry.
“Hello, little human,” he purrs, the familiar slur still feeling like an endearment. This cannot be real.
For a moment, I think I fell asleep and I’m dreaming of him. It wouldn’t be the first time. Reaching out with unsure fingers, I try to touch his face, but he captures my hand and squeezes until pain makes me gasp.
He kisses each of my fingers. “Miss me?”
“You’re real. You’re here. Why?” I whisper.
I don’t think he’ll actually answer, or if he does, he’ll say something cruel, but he surprises me when he tugs me against his chest. His pincers come up to block the moonlight and plunge us into darkness, until he’s all I see.
“You told me to go, to explore what I wanted from this world, and I did. I explored it all, but the only thing I could think of was you.”
My heart jumps in my chest before speeding up. Hope and fear spread through me as I tremble below him.
“I don’t understand,” I whisper.
“Yes, you do, though I don’t. Stupid human emotions. If I thought killing you would rid me of them, I would, but even the thought hurts me. It seems that despite the distance I put between us, I remain infatuated with you.” I just stare, and he sighs. “Have you missed me?”
“Yes,” I admit without shame. “Every day. I even missed our fights.”
“I’m glad I’m not alone in this. I have no intention of staying here every day, but I was thinking .
. . . What if I could have my freedom and you?
” I tilt my head, and he wears that familiar, evil sneer I never thought I’d see again.
“I’ll come back to you if you call or if I want to be with you, but from time to time, I will go do what I wish. That way, neither of us are chained.”
“You want to stay with me?” I’m completely shocked.
“I know, it surprises me too. Very annoying,” he growls. “It’s all your fault. Don’t worry, little human, I’ll make you pay for it.”
My heart beats faster than it ever has, and I quickly clamber closer and lean into him. “I’ll take it willingly. Stay,” I implore as I lean closer. Good and bad, hate and love, it’s never one or the other with us, but both. “Stay with me.”
“We might end up killing each other,” he drawls, but he doesn’t seem bothered by the idea, rather almost excited.
“Probably. It seems we don’t have a choice though.”
“No, I suppose we don’t.” Even as he speaks, he’s backing me up until I hit the ground, sprawled beneath him once more. “I might as well make the most of it. These chains are infinitely more fun and beautiful than my past ones.”
“Then show me and make me pay for it,” I beg, desperate for his cruel touch. I only feel whole when they are all here, and as he leans over me, my heart soars, full and happy.
His pincers tug my shirt from my body so I’m bare for him, and then he sneers as he looks me over, but the desire in his eyes has my thighs rubbing together in anticipation.
“You want this, little human?” He indicates his body. “Work for it.”
“Yes.” Reaching for his pincer, I pull it between my legs, rocking against it as he watches. I feel a smidge of fear, and I always will with him, but that only heightens my need for this man.
Whimpering, I tighten my thighs around the pincer, the firm, hard texture making me gasp as it grinds into my clit and across my entrance.
He watches me the entire time, his expression dark and cold, yet I love it as I wind my hips, reaching for the release that hits me so hard, my eyes cross.
Before I can finish, he moves, sliding the tip of his pincer inside me, fighting my fluttering channel.
“Look at you, coming all over this appendage that would easily kill you. Foolish little human, let’s see how far you are truly willing to go.
” Having that sharp, poisonous edge in me shouldn’t feel good, yet I ride it shamelessly, desperate for more pleasure as one of the others rises into the air, softly stroking my cheek.
“So beautiful, little human. Open your mouth.” I do so obediently, a shiver of excitement filling me at what he might do.
The one in my cunt pulls free despite my whine of protest, and he slips it up my body in a threatening stroke before forcing it into my mouth.
A second pincer thrusts into my cunt, forcing me to take it as deep as I can.
I choke on the one in my mouth, gasping below Eversor, even as my hips lift and another pushes into my pussy, stretching me wider as they work together.
I cry out around the one in my mouth, all while he watches with a cruel twist of his lips.
My legs open wide as I take him deeper. One pincer in my cunt slips free, and I miss the width until it slides down and slips inside my ass.
All of me is filled by him. I am speared, trapped under his darkness.
His cruel hands slide possessively over my skin, stopping at the marks and scales on my throat and chest. “I see you have been busy, little human. Maybe I will make you wear my own mark, like these chains you have placed upon the organ inside me.”
I nod before stilling when I feel the sharp tip of the appendage in my mouth nearly cut me.
“Stupid little human,” he growls, but he tweaks my nipples, forcing my pleasure higher as the pincers in my pussy and ass push me to the brink of release, and when the sharp tip inside my cunt strokes that bundle of nerves, I shatter for him, screaming my release as he pulls the one in my throat free.
He watches me come for him, and when I slump, he removes the others from my body, leaving me aching and whining for more.
“Please,” I say, my voice hoarse from his cruel use of my throat and mouth. “Mark me.”
Maybe it’s crazy, but I don’t care. If he marks me, he’ll come back.
His smile widens, flashing fangs, and then he lifts the tip of a pincer to his mouth, cuts the edge of it on his fang, and presses the sharp tip into my chest, just deep enough for me to feel it.
Glancing down, I watch it pull free of my skin, which heals nearly instantly, surprising us both, but it shouldn’t.
Frost’s healing abilities are one of the first things I seem to have gained.
Eversor’s pincer leaves behind a black mark, like a circle but with uneven edges, like spilled ink.
The dark spot of poison doesn’t spread or move, just stains my skin right over my heart, and I can’t help but stroke it with shaking fingers.
“Silly little human,” he mutters, but he seems happier, and when I grin at him, he shakes his head.
“That was your prize for doing as I asked, not your punishment.” He lifts me into the air with a hand on my throat, but I don’t struggle.
We both know I could, but I want this, even as he slams me into the wall, the dust raining across us from the force as he lines up with my body and slams his cock inside my aching cunt.
He pins me with a hand on my throat, and my lungs scream for air as he slowly cuts it off.
One of his sharp pincers pierces through the top of my arm and sinks into the concrete behind me.
A second quickly does the same to my other arm, and my scream is silent as he holds me with them, leaning in as agony racks my body.
“I did tell you I would punish you, little human.”
I am on the verge of passing out from the pain, but then he moves inside me again, using my body, and my pleasure grows, mixing with pain until everything is heightened.
It’s too much, but he doesn’t seem to care as he wrecks my cunt.
Each thrust pushes me up and jostles the pincers holding me against the wall so he can move freely.
The pain briefly overtakes the pleasure, and then he’ll twist his hips or slap my clit and bring me back from the brink.
I feel my mouth moving, but my ears are ringing too loudly for me to hear what I’m blabbering about.
Pleasure and pain overwhelm everything until every nerve inside me is alive and burning in a way I have never experienced before.
I feel like I’m either going to die or shatter into a million pieces, but as his hand cruelly slaps my clit again, it tips to the latter, and I come with an earth-shattering scream.
Oblivion claims me as my vision finally goes dark.
It must only be for a few seconds because when I come to, I feel his cum dripping from my cunt as he pulls out and kisses me quickly.
“Good. You did good.” His pincers slowly pull free of my arms, the pain making me cry out without pleasure to lessen it.
He catches me as I fall, and I glance at my arms to see two bloody holes there, but as we watch, they slowly heal. Thank the gods for Frost’s healing.
Holding me, Eversor pulls me closer into his chest when I shiver, showing me softness I didn’t know he possessed as he walks to the edge of the roof and jumps to the grass below.
Once we’re back inside, he lays me in my bed, which is surprisingly empty since the others were here when I left—they must have heard Eversor—and then he surprises me further as he slips in behind me, pulling me back into his dark hold.
His pincers, arms, and legs wrap around me until I’m restrained but warm and happy.
I suppose I should fear what just happened, but I came so hard, I saw stars, so I cannot complain. He pushes me to my limits and beyond, and his love is cruel and painful, but I’ve come to crave it.
Managing to wiggle higher in his embrace, I kiss him.
“What was that for?” His voice is tired but satisfied, and something about that vulnerability makes me happy.
“To thank you for coming back and for staying.”
“Not forever,” he warns.
“Doesn’t matter, I’ll take it.” I snuggle closer, closing my eyes in exhaustion, and when I’m about to drift off, I hear him speak softer than ever before.
“Forever would not be enough. Rest now, little human. I will be here when you wake. Whatever soul this body still possesses is yours and will always guide me back to you.”
My smile cannot be contained, and I slip into the deepest sleep I’ve ever had, surrounded by the missing part of my heart.