Chapter 39
Lila was ready, she could take it this time, and she wasn’t afraid. In fact, her pussy was clenching and throbbing at the idea. She had already had two of the best orgasms she’d ever had that night, and she just knew this act would be the grand finale of their joining. She needed it. He needed it. It would cement all the feelings shared between them that night, would cement every rewriting they’ve done, even as they now rewrote their own history.
He loved her, and would take care of her, and she knew she was safe with him. Even as he’d pound into her.
Ambrose positioned his cock at her entrance, grinding his tip between her wet folds. “Such a messy little thing,” he tisked, as he sawed himself between her. “Your cum will make for the perfect lubricant for your tight little ass.”
Lila shuddered at his words. He always had that power over her, to make her wet from just a few syllables with that voice like liquid gold.
“There is a difference between pain for pleasure and pain from discomfort. The moment it hurts, you let me know. Understand, Little Crow?”
Lila nodded.
Delicately, Ambrose dipped a finger into her pussy, swirled it around, and plucked it back out again. “I’m going to get you nice and relaxed first.” With the same wet finger, he massaged her puckered hole and slowly stuck it inside of her. She gasped at the familiar sensation, feeling the stretch around him. He leaned over her, his breath hot on her ear, “I’ve come to realize how much I love the slow, torturous power I have over you as I stretch you enough to fit me.” His tongue grazed over the shell of her ear. “My own personal little sex doll.” She moaned as he stuck the finger deeper, cupping it to massage her insides. “I can’t wait to see my cock fill this hole again, to see it dripping with my cum.” He added another finger and Lila gasped, rocking her hips back to feel more. Ambrose still sawed his cock between her folds, pressing against her sore pussy but grinding between her lips. She’d come so much already that night, and his spit still coated her.
Ambrose was right. She was a mess.
“I’ll give my Little Crow a nice warm bath after this. How does that sound?” At the end of his words, the tip of his cock pressed into her clit.
Lila moaned again, and she knew her voice would be hoarse tomorrow.
Ambrose’s hips grew more eager, his thrusts between her pussy picking up speed as his fingers in her ass matched pace, pulling apart to stretch her even more.
“Fu-fuck, Ambrose, please . . . Please.” Lila rocked back, taking his fingers deeper.
“Are you ready for more, love?”
Lila whimpered, legs shaking from anticipation. From excitement.
“If you don’t want this—“ he began, and Lila refused to let him get the wrong idea.
“I want this. Please,” she begged.
Ambrose kissed her shoulder, straightened, and removed his fingers. “You tell me if it’s too much.”
It wasn’t a question, but a demand.
And then he positioned himself at her tight hole, and slowly pushed himself inside.
Lila immediately gasped, as he ever so slowly pushed into her. She felt herself squeeze around him as he rubbed her ass cheek, whispering sweet nothings. Once his head was fully inside, he paused, letting her get used to the size of him there, get used to the feeling. She never would’ve guessed her night would be filled with stretching. And he was right, it was a slow, pleasurable kind of torture she found she loved.
Finally, his cock filled her and a new sensation raked over her body from where he touched her within. She whimpered at the overwhelming, blissful sensation, as he bent over her, slowly, carefully thrusting into her.
“I want . . . to try something,” she breathed, an idea hitting her.
“Anything,” he said without a moment’s hesitation. She felt his eyes fixated on her hole, felt the heat of his glare where he watched him fuck into her.
“I want to be tied up again.”
Ambrose paused his thrusting, looking around the room. “Hmm,” he hummed and eased out of her. He was only gone for a moment before she’d heard a quick ripping sound, and then he returned behind her. “Thank you, Ciro,” Ambrose said darkly.
Lila looked over her shoulder to see a white rope in his hand. She balked a little but he nudged his head toward the bed.
“It’s from the bed curtains.” He pulled the rope taut between him, a wicked smirk on his face. “Tell me, love. What should I do with you?”
Now Lila smirked. “If you don’t tie me up, I might just run away.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tempt me. I liked chasing you.”
Ambrose pulled Lila up so her back was flush with his chest. “You look so pretty on your knees,” he teased, kissing the side of her head. Then he pulled both arms behind her and began circling the rope from her upper arms down to her wrists. “And now that you’re mine to do with as I please, I’m gonna fuck this little asshole till you’re seeing stars. I’m going to fill you up with my cum. Tell me you’re mine.”
Lila whimpered as the ropes tightened. As his cock pressed into her ass again. As his hand reached around her, toying with her nipple. “I’m yours. I’m always yours.”
He licked the column of her neck. “And I am always yours.” Ambrose plunged inside of her, the fingers at her nipple trailing down to her clit, and Lila threw her head back against his shoulder.
“Lila,” he moaned against her skin, and the sound was enough to make her toes curl, nearly climaxing from the tone alone.
Her arms were constricted behind her, and she felt her hands tingle from low circulation, making her head swim. She couldn’t fight, not that she wanted to, but he was all that was there to hold her up, even as he thrust against her. She couldn’t do anything. But she didn’t have to.
As Ambrose’s hand quickened between her thighs, she felt the resistance from behind ebb away. He was hitting a spot inside of her that was leaving her dripping down her thighs onto the floor. Lila’s back arched as much as it could with her arms bound, and the noises of his hips driving into her ass cheeks was a serenade she’d never recover from, his balls smacking her swollen pussy.
“Moan for me again,” she begged. “Moan for me and I’ll come for you.”
He smiled against her forehead, his fangs poking her skin. “It’s a deal.”
Ambrose moaned her name, again and again, telling her how good she felt, how well she was doing, how she was such a good girl.
“Lila,” he moaned again, “I love you, baby.”
It was like the sea burst through her, her body stiffening into pure electricity as she screamed and finally slumped back against him as he still milked his cock in her ass. She came and came, her limbs twitching and she couldn’t hold herself up anymore. But still, he fucked into her.
“I’m so close, love, just take me a second longer.”
Lila felt her head swimming. It was so good. He kept hitting the spot that drove her wild, that had her already on the edge again, her insides warming as though they were being heated by the sun itself.
Ambrose groaned and bit into her shoulder as is cock swelled and twitched, filling her ass with his cum. It was hot and wet but she felt so satisfied. And as he took shuddering breaths against her skin, Lila slumped onto the floor, breathing deeply, utterly spent.
I could use my power to rejuvenate. Or . . . she began through the Concord, just trying to catch her breath.
Ambrose chuckled. Just go to sleep, love. I’ve completely lost track of time, but I know it has to be the middle of the day.
The moment Ambrose suggested she sleep, she took that suggestion and made it her life goal. Her eyes were already heavy, and she closed them without a second thought. Lila felt the ghosts of movements, she felt him slip out of her, his cum spilling out of her, being lifted into big strong arms, felt as she was eased into a warm bath and washed, felt as she was towel dried and dropped onto a plush bed. Then, she felt as he fucked her again, moaning in her half-sleep state as she came all over Ambrose’s cock again.
She fell into deep sleep with him still inside of her, and she hoped that was how she’d wake too.
It was not how Lila woke. In fact, it was so far from how Lila woke, for the briefest moment between sleep and consciousness, she had to wonder if the previous night had happened at all.
The aching rawness of her holes told her it had.
But Lila did not have the peaceful wakeup she’d dreamt of. She wasn’t wrapped in Ambrose’s arms—Ambrose was nowhere to be seen.
“Wake up, child,” she heard again, as the bed rigorously shook underneath her.
As her eyes adjusted, Lila saw she was still in Ciro’s bedroom—fear jolting through her until she remembered the sweet night she had. Though she’d mostly healed her muscles, she still felt the sore tension in her ass, the ghost of a cock pumping into her.
She sat up slowly, holding the blankets to her chest, and saw who’d woken her.
Gustov Nostro stood at the foot of the bed, kicking the mattress with a black-booted foot. His large black coat had its collar turned up around his neck, making a thick cowl, and he wore those same shaded glasses he wore in the Maggot Mansion.
“We had a bargain, dear, and I’m not letting you spend our only chance shacking up with the Crow Lord. You had your fun time, now it’s time to get back to work.”
Lila was eyeing the man skeptically, trying to even process what he was saying, when he threw a bundle of black at her, hitting her face. Thankfully, the bundle was soft. Mostly. It was her fighting leathers and the high-necked golden gorget (thankfully tossed after the leathers into her lap). “Get dressed,” Nostro said. “We have much ground to cover today. And there is another theory I’d like to test.”
“Always theories,” Lila huffs. “What are you going on about anyway?”
Nostro turned around as Lila shuffled out of the bed and started to slide into her leathers.
“We made a bargain, Sun Child, to aid those in the Morada. You held your end of the bargain, though the trial was interrupted. So now it is my turn. Plus, we could use anyone willing to fight with us now.”
“Fight with us?” She shimmied the shirt down her torso.
“Against Hektor, Drusilla, and her strigoi. To claim back the three manors lost. We’ll save those that need saving.”
“But the vampires here, even if changed into strigoi”—she snapped on the gorget—“I doubt they would go against their own house, against Hektor.”
Nostro chuckled. “I forgot. You were . . . occupied while we discussed these matters last night. Come, dear, the others are catching Ambrose up on our decisions right now. It”s better if you both are filled in, then we can make decisions together.”
Nostro led Lila to the great room, a fleeting heat spreading through body in the memories of last night. Memories Ambrose was clearly thinking of too as his eyes met her across the room. The feel of his needy tongue on her, of his hands searching for purchase.
The room had changed since she’d last been in here. Now, a large table sat in the center, away from the dais, with large chairs surrounding it. Ambrose sat at the back end of the table, his eyes locked on Lila from the moment she entered. Across from him, with her back to Lila, sat Rebekkah. Darius was to her right, and then Constance, Marcus, and Kaz sat scattered between them.
“Look who finally decided to get her lazy ass up,” Rebekkah cooed, turning over her shoulder.
“Be nice, Bek. Lila had a long night, from the sounds of it,” Darius snickered, and Lila felt her face heat like the surface of the sun. But she tilted her head high, and crossed the room to Ambrose.
“I did. I’m guessing someone is a little jealous he didn’t have such an engaging night.” And with intent, Lila looked between Darius and Rebekkah, and made sure each of them saw, hoping she’d been picking up on the right signals.
“Yu-uck,” Constance groaned, throwing her head back. “Children, the lot of you. Worse than me and Marcus, I swear.”
Lila nodded. “As it should be.”
She plopped down in the seat beside Ambrose—who had also been dressed in his fighting leathers—and folded her arms over each other. Behind her, Kaz scurried away, only to return a moment later with a fresh plate of food. Fruits and cheeses, breads and sliced meats. He winked as he placed it in front of her, and Lila immediately realized how hungry she’d been.
“What have I missed?” she said around a mouthful of a cube of cheese.
Across the table, Marcus huffed a laugh, “Talking about you, of course. And how you are to save us all.”
The cheese lodged in her throat. Or, it would’ve if she hadn’t scarfed it down already. “Me?”
Rebekkah rolled her eyes. “Nostro has . . . a theory.”
“Of course he does,” Lila muttered under her breath.
But unlike the others, Gustov Nostro hadn’t joined them at the table. Instead, he paced the length of the great hall, back and forth, hands clasped behind his back.
“Let’s hear it, Gustov. We haven’t got all night,” Darius turned over his shoulder to the other Lord.
At that moment, Pollock flew from the rafters in the high-vaulted ceiling, and landed on the table next to Lila. She fed him a piece of fruit from her plate.
“She’s strongest in daylight,” Nostro said abruptly, his back still turned. “We’ve all seen it. She fights and heals better when she is in direct sunlight.”
Constance sat up straighter. “She had no problem keeping up the . . . warmth that rejuvenated us during the flight from the Arachnid Estate.”
“I feel stronger too. As if the sun recharges the power.”
Ambrose turned to her, “Do you feel weak at night?”
“No, not weak. But—”
“Stronger in the sun,” Nostro finished. Lila nodded.
“So, what, you want to attack Hektor and Drusilla in daylight? Can we assure Lila’s power will cover us all to be in the daylight?”
Nostro turned to the table finally, and nodded once. “I . . . believe so.”
Darius sighed. “Believing isn’t really knowing, is it, Nostro?”
Ambrose drummed his fingers on the table. “Then let me be the deciding vote. I know she can.”
Lila’s eyes met Rebekkah’s across the table. She looked regal, as she smirked at Lila, sitting at the head of the table—where her father sat, her brother. If the Viper Morada were hers to command, maybe it wouldn’t be such a terrifying place to be.
“So you want me to attack Drusilla and Hektor during the daylight to catch them off guard? And to make our side stronger?”
“Can you separate who you protect and who you attack at the same time?” Marcus asked. “Or is it an attack all and heal all at once kind of thing?”
When Lila just tilted her head at him, he continued, “Say Ambrose was about to attack me, and I was hurt. Could you heal me, while fighting him, at the same moment? Or would you attack him, hurting me in the process, and then heal both of us?”
Pollock stole the grape from her fingers.
“Ah, the first, I think. That’s what I did the morning we fought the strigoi on the ship. But I’m not as practiced in divvying up the warmth. Before, the power just came in all burning heat or all soothing warmth.”
“What does it take for you to do these different forms of heat?” Ambrose asked beside her.
Lila shrugged. She felt all eyes on her, and though she wanted to cower away, she knew she couldn’t. “Thought, I suppose. Concentration.”
Ambrose smirked. “So we’ll train.”
“But for how long?” Rebekkah asked. “I hate to be the reminder of our unfortunate circumstance, but we’re vastly outnumbered.”
Darius turned to her. “We have four lords of Malvania at this table, Bek, and the Sun Child.” He lifted his hand to me. “Our lands may be taken, our people may be changed. But we are not broken. Far from it.”
“And,” Nostro added, “if my theory is correct, we may not be so outnumbered.”
Marcus sat back in his chair, brown curls flopping on his forehead. “So what is this theory of yours?”
Nostro fidgeted with his fingers before finally taking a seat at the table between Lila and Darius. “Well, if the Sun Child is strongest in sunlight, perhaps she is even stronger thus in the longest and truest summer day of the year.”
“The solstice?” Ambrose asked, folding his arms over each other.
“But that’s in . . .” Constance counted on her fingers. “That’s in nearly two months from now.”
“Just under, if I’m keeping track of our nights correctly.”
“And what? We’re just supposed to let Drusilla continue her control of our manors till then? Risk her coming here?”
“She won’t come here, Bek,” Darius uttered. “Hektor wouldn’t let her. He’s too afraid of him,” he pointed at Ambrose. “And, he knows he doesn’t have an ally out of you. Word is, he’s denounced the Morada, and claims the Crow Court is his now.”
Lila bristled, and from the corner of her eye she saw Ambrose stiffen as well.
But it was Kaz who spoke. “That heathen has no right to claim it. He is but a worm for the crows to feast on. No offense, Lord Nostro.”
“None taken. Any who, we wouldn’t just be waiting around, Rebekkah darling, we would be . . . recruiting.”
“Recruiting?” she raised an eyebrow.
“Think of it as a gift from the Sun Child, friend to the Lord of the Viper Morada, Rebekkah Reinick.”
Rebekkah smirked. “And what is this gift, friend?”
Nostro turned to Lila then, a mischievous smile on his lips. And then Lila knew.
“We’ll build the army. Not through force, like Drusilla.” She turned in her seat, facing Ambrose. “The reason the Crow Lord is so popular in his land is not because he is the owner of murine, nor is it because he is the scariest monster of Malvania.”
Constance stood, her chair falling back. “It’s because of the give and take!”
Lila beamed. “Exactly. Something the Morada has never done. Serve its people, just as much as they serve the vampire Lord. In the Crow Court, that is exchanging blood for food, coexisting. In the Maggot Mansion and the Arachnid Estate, it is the exchange of blood for shelter, blood for safety. The Viper Morada has always been the odd one out, Bek. Now it’s your chance to change that.”
“What do we offer the muri—I mean, humans? We don’t really have much right now.” She pointed at the hall, the dark room surrounding them.
“You offer me.”