Chapter 25
LEONIE
To be so fucking powerful—and yet so adorably shy and achingly young.
Shara Isador could have razed me and my entire house to the ground with a dismissive flick of her pinkie finger. Yet all she cared about was not scaring me away. Or hurting me with her all-consuming hunger.
Which was exactly what pulled us to her. Not just me but her Blood as well.
She stared at me, her power weighing heavier moment by moment. Air too thick to breathe, filled with her magic. Her gaze caressed me, stirring my magic to flare just beneath my skin. Fine hairs prickled on my arms, and I couldn’t suppress a delightful shiver of anticipation.
Her hunger was a palpable beast in the room, prowling, hunting, ready to feast. Even though she’d already called the rest of her Blood to her. I’d feared she might have satiated her hunger long before she called for me, but now I realized the truth. With Shara, that would never be a problem.
This hunger would never be satisfied. Not completely.
Something silent passed between the two Blood, and Vivian began removing her weapons and then her clothing.
I glanced at the alpha, not surprised to see him present in the room, but checking to gauge his interest and involvement.
From the small interactions I’d seen between him and Shara, they were very close.
Not just because of their power bond but emotionally as well.
He loved her, truly and deeply, and she loved him.
She loved all her Blood. I could see it in every small thing she did and said, even down to letting her alpha stay in her room where he could be present but unobtrusive.
Even if he wouldn’t touch me or Vivian in any way.
He needed to see Shara and know she was safe.
Every second of every day and night. To send him away would’ve been pure torture.
So he stayed. Not sparing a single glance in my direction, even though I disrobed. He didn’t need to see me. Not when he had his queen in sight.
“Does Rik’s presence bother you?”
I jerked my head back to meet Shara’s gaze. “Not at all, my queen.”
Several long curls of her hair hung loose down her back, streaming over her shoulders and down to the floor.
I stepped closer, still paces away until she wished to close the distance between us.
But I stooped to pick up one of those long tendrils of her hair.
I lifted it to my face so I could breathe deeply.
Tingles vibrated through my fingers and up my arm, just from touching it. And the smell…
Sultry spices burning on an altar. Desert sands blowing on a hot wind yet still laden with the lush scent of midnight flowers blooming in a secret oasis.
Desire and lust, blood and sex entwined with her hunger.
Then deeper, something dangerous. A hidden serpent coiled, swaying, the black cobra queen poised to strike.
Silky soft danger, wrapping around my wrist.
When her hair touched the gleaming tattoo on my skin, magic flared even higher. So bright, so powerful, the world disappeared. For a moment, we stood on a stone platform deep in a jungle. I heard the call of birds and monkeys all around us. The air thick and moist and green.
Vivian’s voice broke the vision. “Would you like to carry Smoak, my queen?”
“Smoak is your gift,” Shara replied, adding for my benefit, “Vivian carries a sunfire named Smoak, whether she transforms into the phoenix or not.”
“I’ve never heard of a sunfire.”
A burning nimbus flared to life around Vivian as she strode to our queen, every inch a proud warrior with long, lean legs and broad shoulders, muscled from swordplay.
Her braids rippled with the flames, mixing red and black and gold without burning.
Though I glimpsed thick scars down her back beneath the flames.
Since the flames rippled around her without pain or scorching her body, I had to assume those scars came from something else.
Vivian had lived through something terrible that had left permanent marks. No easy feat for Aima which could heal just about anything with our queens’ blood.
“Millennia ago, the sunfires were born as a star collapsed into a supermassive black hole. Ra, the god of Light, found a way to control them for his own sick pleasure, warping them with his lust for pain and glory. I was raised in Heliopolis, and when my cursed father released me into this world, I had but one job. Destroy as many queens with sunfire flames as possible. Luckily for me, Shara Isador found a way to tame our flames.”
She dropped to her knees before Shara and tipped her head to the side, offering her throat.
“Smoak is yours to use any way you wish, my queen. He’s as eager to please you as I am.
All I ask is that you don’t penetrate me if you wish to use him.
I can’t…” Her voice cracked and she shook her head. “Use him in any other way.”
Shara gently touched Vivian’s chin and turned her face back toward hers so she could press a tender kiss to her lips.
“I would love for you to penetrate me while Leonie and I feed on each other.” She lifted her head, her dark eyes glistening like bottomless wells.
Her lips curved into a soft, shy smile. “It’s entirely up to you if you’d like Vivian and Smoak to penetrate you. ”
I stepped out of the thin slippers and then knelt beside Vivian. Not surprised in the slightest when Shara’s hair continued gliding up my arm. “All I want is you, my queen. However you wish to use me.”
“There will be no using,” she said firmly. With her fingers beneath Vivian’s chin, she urged her to her feet. Her hair tugged me up to mine as well. “I don’t like that word. I wish to love you. Both of you. However you enjoy being touched. That is all I ever want.”
Vivian seized her around the waist and effortlessly tossed her up onto the bed, making her squeal and laugh. Of course, her hair pulled me along with her. I stumbled, almost falling, but then more thick tendrils caught me and lifted me up beside her on the mattress.
I accidentally on purpose allowed my body to tumble against hers. “Sentient octopus hair is very cool.”
“It does sometimes act on its own,” she admitted, her voice catching.
“I never thought of it as octopus tentacles, but I suppose that’s a very apt description.
I’m still learning what it’s capable of.
” At the confusion that must be on my face, she added, “I only gained this hair a few days ago. It was my mother’s.
She left it in our New York City house for safekeeping before she left everything behind to conceive me. ”
The coils regretfully slipped away to lie on the mattress like normal hair. But I didn’t mind now that we were close enough to touch. Even kiss. Though I feared that once I lay my lips against hers, I might never come back up for air again.
“Same,” she whispered, inching closer. Her breath soft on my face. “What do you like, Leonie?”
The sound of my name on her lips made my heart beat quicken. “Anything and everything.”
Mindful of her long nails, she trailed her fingers down my arm, lightly at first, but when I shivered, she pressed her palm against me. Long, steady strokes, kneading gently, spreading heat. Such a simple thing, an innocent touch on my arm, but a desperate yearning need widened inside me.
I’m alive. Safe. Healed. Fed. Made whole once more by this young, beautiful queen. With magical clinging hair and indigo velvet eyes and infinite hunger.
“Please loose your hunger on me, my queen.”
“Just Shara. Please.”
I closed the short distance between us. I whispered her name against her lips, letting our breaths mingle for a heartbeat. Two. The tip of her tongue touched my lips, and I couldn’t wait any longer. I sealed my mouth over hers.
Heat engulfed me as if she’d swallowed the sun and allowed its rays to blast me to queendom come. Her tongue stroked the roof of my mouth, probing where my fangs lay. Circling those small holes.
She might as well have tongued my clit. I groaned into her mouth, sliding both hands beneath her hair.
Gripping her nape. Her back. Pulling our bodies together.
Her breasts rubbed against mine, and I felt the hard ivory of her fangs against my lip.
I pulled back just enough so I could carefully stroke my tongue up and down each wicked fang. Testing the sharpness.
Vivian hadn’t exaggerated when she said Shara’s fangs were gigantic and brutal. Not just long but thick. They’d carry quite the physical punch, even without the orgasmic effect. Who needed a man’s dick when I could have such glorious fangs buried in me?
I deliberately pricked my tongue, giving her the first taste of my blood.
With a low growl of hunger, she gripped my nape, twisting my head to suit her.
Our lips smashed together, and her fangs tore my bottom lip.
Not that I minded in the slightest because they also shredded hers, though evidently not enough to blast me into orgasm.
Our blood mingled in our mouths, allowing us both to feed.
Power blazed in her blood, burning down my throat.
This time, I tried to savor the taste of her blood.
The feel of her tongue stroking mine. The spark of magic. But it was impossible.
If I thought her hair was powerful…
One drop of her blood could detonate this entire planet.
How my entire body didn’t burst into flame, I didn’t know.
So much energy burned in every drop of her blood.
Flipping switches inside me, lighting up every cell.
Every dormant or latent gift. Blasting away cobwebs and doubt.
Old pain. Throwing open every door, every window, allowing the blast of Shara Isador to reach every dusty corner of my being.
She made a low purr of welcome against my lips as Vivian crawled onto the mattress.
Shara widened her thighs, wrapping her legs around her Blood.
Arching up against her. Opening my eyes, I turned my head enough so I could see Vivian’s burning, golden-red phallus.
It looked like molten gold wrapped in flames, rising erect from her glistening dark curls as if a part of her natural body.
She stroked her hands down Shara’s thighs to her knees, shifting her higher as she began to thrust into her.
Sinking slowly, with exquisite control, making our queen moan and shake and roll her hips.
Taking her deeper until Vivian could lay against her.
Us. Because I didn’t pull away. Not while Shara continued sucking on my lip.
Though the press of her fangs against my chin was quickly becoming a torment.
A tease. Because I wanted her bite. Her teeth in me.
Vivian’s breath sighed out in a low grunt, her body arching sharply. Then she chuckled. “One benefit of having a female Blood is lack of blood won’t deflate my erection.”
Shara released my lip, allowing me to lift my head more fully. Her left arm wrapped around Vivian, her nails dug into her buttock. I’d seen Shara use her nails on the Blood she called the general as well.
Meaning she must be able to feed through them. Without biting.
I threaded my fingers through her right hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. The silvery nails lightly touched my cheek, ending in points almost as sharp as her teeth. “Please feed on me too. Anywhere. Everywhere.”
I pressed my lips back to hers. Her fingers trailed down my throat, the silver nails lightly scratching my skin.
Building anticipation. The heat of her palm stroked over my breasts in a slow, torturous glide.
Back and forth, letting her nails dance over my hardened nipples.
Down my stomach, the drag of her nails like claws.
Not quite hurting. Not tearing the skin.
Though she absolutely could. I had no doubt.
“Are you sure?”
I lifted my thigh over hers, opening myself up to her. “Please. Feed on me.”
She cupped my pussy in her palm. Her breath caught on a shaking groan at how wet I was.
How ready. Goddess, it’d been so long since I was touched in love and desire.
I couldn’t even remember. Need pulsed through me.
I ground against the heel of her palm, putting more pressure on my clit.
Even though it made her nails poke into tender skin.
Small pains flickered through me, stoking the fire.
Especially when her breath caught again.
She shuddered. “You taste so good. Are you sure I’m not hurting you? ”
“Not at all. I want more. I need it.”
The tip of her index nail slipped inside me, lightly stirring inside me. “Then you will have it, Leonie. As much as you want.”
“I want it all.”