Beast

  She leaned forward and breathed in his scent. He smelled clean, but there was a divine musky scent that made her want to huddle close to him. She allowed her tongue to come out, and she gently licked the drop seeping from his cock.

  He tasted salty. It coated her tongue, and the minute she’d lapped the first drop up, another had taken its place.

  “What is this called?” Kaja asked. The word did not slip into her mind the way some did.

  Dante stared down at her, his face tight. “Cum, love. It’s called cum, though technically this is pre-cum. Now stop playing with me. I want your mouth on my cock. I want you to take it in your mouth.”

  It did not look like it would fit into her mouth.

  “Kaja,” Dante said, impatience dripping. “It would please me if you would try to take me into your mouth.”

  And she could not refuse that. She wanted to please him so badly.

  She put her lips on that big cock and opened her mouth. Dante’s fingers wound into her hair, and he pulled her forward.

  “Follow my lead, Kaja. I’ll teach you how to suck my cock.” His words had lost their smoothness. He seemed to be grinding them out of his mouth now. “Let your tongue lick me all over.”

  That wasn’t easy. He filled Kaja’s mouth. He kept pressing in. Kaja had to fight to breathe for a minute, but then calmed and let herself relax. She breathed in through her nose and let Dante sink into her open mouth. She rubbed her tongue along the underside of his cock. He felt silky, and she could taste his salty pre-cum dripping into her mouth.

  “That’s right. That’s what I want.”

  Guided by instinct, Kaja pulled back a bit and whirled her tongue around the head. She loved the feel of the skin and the small indentation on the backside of his cockhead. Kaja felt the muscles of Dante’s thighs tighten and become hard as rocks. Everything about the man seemed hard.

  She was in control, she realized suddenly. She had this man in the palm of her hand, and he trusted her. The hand in her hair wasn’t there to pull her back. It was there to keep her in place and encourage her.

  “Take more, Kaja,” Dante said. It wasn’t a request. It was a harsh demand.

  There was a piece of Kaja that deeply responded to his dominance. He’d earned it. He’d saved her. He’d proven stronger than she was. In her world, it gave him the right to dominate her. He was the alpha, the First. And she was his mate.

  There it was again—that howl that meant she claimed him. She forced it back. It would do nothing but prove she was a barbarian. The more she spoke to Meg and watched Dante, the more she realized she would not fit into his world. The buildings were made of materials she couldn’t conceive of, and they rose into the sky like mountains. She didn’t belong there.

  But she was going to try. She’d never given up, even when she’d had absolutely nothing to gain. She wasn’t about to stop trying now that Valhalla was close. Perhaps she could become what Dante needed. But her mating howl would never be voiced. It would be more than he could handle.

  She swallowed it down even as she wrapped her mouth around Dante’s cock. She sucked and licked, his throaty moans leading the way. She whirled her tongue around it, moving her mouth up and down. Her hands found their way below to cup the heavy sac that hung under his cock. The skin here felt different, but just as intriguing. She wondered what it would feel like to lap all around the round balls.

  “Just relax, sweetheart.” Dante’s voice had gone to a guttural place. His hands tightened in her hair. “I’m almost there. Let me fuck your mouth, and then I’ll see to you. I want you to swallow my cum. I want you to take what I give you.”

  Dante picked up the pace. He pushed and pulled at her hair, forcing that big cock into her mouth and then dragging it out. Over and over, he fucked between her lips. Kaja tried to keep up, her tongue licking all around. There was a rhythm to his thrusts, and Kaja found herself relaxing and finding the beat. Kaja let her mind drift. It was instinct that led her. It seemed right to open herself to him.

  “What the hell?” Dante’s rhythm was blown, and Kaja felt something amazing roll over her body. Heat and a wet, delicious pleasure took over her lower body as though she was the one receiving pleasure. She shivered as a salty taste filled her mouth. Dante’s cock swelled, and Kaja could feel jets of that substance he called cum fill her. Pleasure, so much pleasure. It went beyond the mere feeling. The connection that had opened between them was beyond anything she’d ever dreamed of. She felt his pleasure, and for the briefest moment, she could have sworn she felt him—the real Dante.

  The connection had been strongest at the moment of his orgasm. Yes, she knew that word. She’d brought him to orgasm. Just as he’d reached the pinnacle, she’d share a piece of his soul.

  Kaja kissed his cock one last time and leaned back, ready to accept his praise.

  Dante stared down at her. His eyes glowed in the darkness, and Kaja knew what it meant to be prey.

  Chapter Ten

  Dante felt like the whole world had turned on its head. One minute he’d been perfectly happy having his cock attended to by his consort, and the next she’d been deep inside his head, invading with a sweet sense of intimacy that he’d never felt before. He was a man who had never felt alone once in his life, but when he’d touched Kaja’s mind with his own, he’d realized that he’d never really known what it meant to be together with someone. He’d understood Kaja in that one instant more than he’d ever known another being.

  That had to stop.

  When the hunger had come, Dante had been more than happy to give in to it.

  “What is wrong?” Kaja asked.

  He could sense her fear. There was just the smallest part of him that reveled in it. Kaja was powerful on her own. The fact that she was frightened spoke to the beast that obviously lived inside him. Dante had ignored this primal side of himself for far too long. Now, with a consort so close, Dante couldn’t ignore the part of him that needed blood—real blood.

  Her blood.

  “Nothing is wrong, consort.” His voice sounded odd to his own ears. It was deeper and more demanding than it had ever been before. The world looked different with his eyes fully opened, his senses on alert. Kaja glowed, the halo that surrounded her so fucking gorgeous to Dante’s eyes.

  Her blood would be the best he’d ever tasted.

  Dante felt his dick get hard again at the thought of having her in his arms. This time he would pull her close. He would get his fangs in her neck and drink his fill.

  “Come to me, Kaja.”

  Her beautiful, graceful form backed away, just a bit.

  “Do not run from me, consort,” Dante warned. His fangs had popped out, filling his mouth and forcing him to speak around them. “I am only barely in control now. If you try to flee, I think I’ll lose it, and I’ll take you without any kindness. I don’t want that between us.”

  Oh, but it was there. The desire to take her because she belonged to him was right there beneath the surface. His senses were filled with her. Her skin glowed, and he could smell the soft, musky scent of her desire. Her lips were full, swollen from the way he’d shoved his cock in between them. He’d shove his cock into her pussy, too. She was his. He’d bought her, fought for her. It was only right that he take her.

  Kaja swallowed and got to her knees. “I do not want that between us, either.”

  It was the gentle hitch in her voice that pulled him from the edge. She’d seen so much violence, known so little kindness. He’d closed that odd connection between them before he’d seen too much, but he’d caught the edge of Kaja’s reality. The last thing he wanted was to be just another person who used her.

  But that’s what you’re doing. That voice in his head didn’t seem to care about his hunger. He wasn’t using her. He was saving her. If he hadn’t bought her, Beck would have been forced to kill her, or she would have spent a lifetime alone, wandering the forests. He’d done her a favor. And when she’d paid him back by convincing his father he had set
tled down, Dante would find her a nice home. She would have luxury like she’d never imagined.

  “What should I do?” Kaja asked.

  He could think of a million things she should do. She should run because he wasn’t worthy of her. He was a selfish bastard, and he always would be. He couldn’t commit. It was simply impossible. This raging passion he felt for her would fade. It was inevitable, so if he had a heart in his body, he would save her the pain.

  “Come to me.” He held out his hand and indicated that she should sit on his lap.

  Kaja got to her feet and stepped forward. She placed herself on his lap, the soft flesh of her ass kissing his thighs. The minute her skin touched his, he felt something ease deep inside him. That nagging beast that raged below the surface let up the tiniest bit.

  “Put your arms around me.” Dante let his hands drift to her waist as he breathed her in. Her hair was mostly dry, and it bloomed around her delicate face like a halo of softness. He let his nose run through it. Kaja’s hands found their way around his neck, and he could hear the way her heart sped up. She might be frightened, but there was obviously a part of her that wanted, too. Kaja knew what Dante was going to do, and yet she wrapped her body around his, allowing him to fill his every sense with her.

  Dante’s heart began to pound in time to the rhythm he heard. Kaja’s chest thudded as he ran his nose along the line of her neck. He could hear the blood running through her body like a river of life. His fangs scraped her skin, and she trembled.

  “Don’t be afraid.” He couldn’t stand the thought now. Her arms were around him, circling him in her light. Her very touch had softened his predatory instincts and brought out a need to please her. A consort had her power, too.

  “Will it hurt?” The words came out on a breathless whisper.

  He kept his mouth close to her neck. He couldn’t seem to move it. It was far too tempting. But he soothed a hand down her back. “I don’t know, love. I don’t think so. Consorts seem to love the bite, and it’s always followed by some righteously nasty sex.”

  He felt her chuckle, and something eased inside him. “You sound like Dante again.”

  He felt more in control. Her very nearness allowed him to push the beast back. It was still there, simmering below the surface, but Dante felt more like himself.

  And he was hungry. So fucking hungry.

  It gnawed at his gut, but it was so much more than physical. He hungered for her. If someone had offered him a pill at that moment, he would have smacked them down. He didn’t need fucking nutrition. He needed her.

  But there was a process. Every royal knew it. Every royal was forced to study it right along with an embarrassing course in sex education. Dante had laughed his way through it, from the talk on safe feeding to the teaching plastic model every student had been forced to “feed” from to prove he wouldn’t rip its throat out. Delicacy was given high marks. If he simply bit down, she would be in agony. Persuasion was the key.

  “Look at me, Kaja.” Dante forced his head up. He looked into her eyes, not allowing himself a moment to blink.

  “They’re so beautiful. So green. Like the forest in high summer before the winter takes everything away.” Kaja stared at his eyes, not fighting him at all. Her mouth was slightly open. This was what the class had talked about. Persuasion. It felt good to pull her in and know she was his for the taking. She wouldn’t feel the pain of his fangs penetrating that smooth, white neck. All she would feel would be pleasure with every drag he took from her.

  “You’re the beautiful one, Kaj.” He smoothed back her hair. Her crystal-blue eyes were a little cloudy, but he couldn’t mistake the affection there. She was fully in the moment with him.

  And this was more than a feed. Dante pulled her close, her nipples brushing against his chest. They were hard little points. He could feel her wet little pussy rubbing against his thigh. Kaja was ready for a long, hard fucking, and he would give it to her. After.

  Instinct led him. He forgot about the class and everything he’d ever heard about this act. This was between him and Kaja, and no one else in all the planes of existence could know what it felt like. The world had narrowed down, and Kaja filled it. There was only the scent of her, and the pearly glow of her skin, and the sound of her heart.

  Dante gently grabbed a handful of silky hair and pulled her head back, exposing the long line of her neck. A single vein seemed to pulse and tempt him. He licked from her collarbone to just below her earlobe, following that sweet river that would feed his hunger.

  “Please, Dante.” She squirmed just a little.

  Dante chuckled. There was no fear in her voice now. She wanted it. She was ready to beg for it. And Dante was done playing. His cock ached and every muscle in his body screamed to take her.

  “Yes. Yes, it’s time.” It was time to join with her. The phrase stuck in his head like a song he couldn’t get rid of. Joining. Being. Kaja.

  Dante struck. He didn’t question how he knew where to strike. He simply let that primal piece of himself take over, and his fangs pierced the vein with flawless accuracy. Not too deep. He felt the small hollow in his fangs fill for the first time with sweet, living blood. So warm and rich. He hadn’t realized how cold he’d been before, but as Kaja’s blood began to flow through his system, he knew he’d never look at a meal pill again. This was what it meant to be full and complete. Her blood invaded him like the sweetest drug he’d ever known. She was better than alcohol, better than anything.

  Dante dragged blood into his body as Kaja moaned in his arms. She clung to him, her hands clutching as though she never wanted him to stop.

  And that was the danger. She didn’t want to stop. He didn’t want to stop. He could drink until she was dry and still want more. Just another minute and he would stop.

  Then there was something beneath the taste. Dante felt something skittering on the edge of his consciousness. It was a single vision.

  The world was white and cold. All around him was snow. It coated the ground and filled the air. White flakes danced through the wind and played on his snout.

  He had a snout. He had four feet and a strong body. He could feel the long line of his spine. He scented the air. It was like the layers of an onion. There were surface smells—his own body, the scent of pine trees, the clean smell of snow. But there was more. He breathed it in, peeling back the layers. There was dirt under the snow. It had a loamy smell. Just to his right, he scented blood and the smell of the pack. That was his pack. He turned toward them. They had a huge buck down, its tan hide opened, and the blood made a stark contrast against the snow.

  His heart constricted. There was a reason he stood behind. His stomach gnawed in hunger. It felt like his stomach was trying to turn in on itself. He wanted that flesh. He needed it, but he wasn’t welcome. He would have to wait until the pack was done and hope that there was something left. He would munch on the bones and try to tear the bits of meat that would cling to the hide.

  He stood apart and watched them.

  He was Kaja. Dante’s eyes flew open, and he released the vein.

  What the hell had happened?

  Kaja slumped back in his arms. He tightened his hands on her so she didn’t fall. Had he taken too much? He forced the odd vision out of his brain as panic took over for a moment. He couldn’t have hurt her. He wouldn’t want to live if he’d hurt her.

  Kaja’s eyes came open. A dreamy look crossed her face. She lifted a hand to his cheek. “That did not hurt.”

  Relief swept over him. She didn’t look anything like a woman he’d abused. She looked like a woman who’d had a good time. She looked like a woman who was satisfied.

  His eyes strayed to the twin marks on her neck, and he felt his cock swell again. Those small holes marked her as his. She belonged to him. More than any piece of paper or monetary exchange, the fact that her blood was in his body, sustaining him and making him warm and alive, was proof that he owned this woman. The worries fell away, and Dante began to hunger a
gain.

  He wasn’t going to hold back this time. She’d agreed to mate with him before. That would have to do.

  He let his hands drift to her breasts. They were soft, so utterly unlike the feel of breasts on his plane. He would be able to sleep with his head pillowed on them. They molded to fit his hand. The nipples were already hard before he ever touched them. He rolled them between his thumb and forefinger while Kaja made that soft whimpering sound that always made his dick strain to get inside her.

  “I want to fuck, Kaj.” He should warn her before he rammed his cock into her cunt.

  She nodded and scrambled off his lap. Dante was just about to chase her down when she got to her knees in the soft sand and dropped to all fours. Her round ass was presented to him, and Dante couldn’t resist. He fell to his knees behind her feeling more powerful than he’d ever felt before. He wasn’t sure if it was her blood singing inside him or the fact that she was so submissive. He’d never wanted it before. He never wanted a female on her knees waiting for him to take his pleasure. It made him responsible for her, but he couldn’t resist Kaja. He traced the line of her spine with his hand, inspecting the bounty placed before him. Her ass cheeks were round and formed a sweet upside down heart.

  “Spread your knees apart.” Dante wanted to see her asshole. His cock twitched against his abdomen. The fucking thing was standing straight up.

  Kaja was obedient. She spread her legs further, giving him full access to all those holes Dante was thinking about fucking. He could see her pussy lips glistening with moisture and her little anus peeking from between her cheeks. It was a pale pink, almost a rosy brown, and it looked so tight.

  “Did that lame-ass Second of yours ever fuck this pretty little asshole, love?” His fangs were back out. It wasn’t entirely about the sex that was about to happen. There was an edge of violence to his mood as well. He didn’t like to think about the fucker who had raped his wife. That was what it had been. This Second of hers had shown her no pleasure, no kindness. He’d held her down and tossed her aside. He’d taken something that belonged to Dante, and if Dante ever met up with him, there would be a reckoning.