Another roaring cheer rose up around them. The warriors bowed their heads.
Shayla was dying to kiss him. It was almost painful to keep her mouth away. She bit down on her lip, hard, and chewed. With her eyes, she pleaded with him.
His gaze narrowed. “I understand, dear heart. Soon.”
She undid the fastenings on her robe as he undid his. She exaggerated the lift of her hood, not wanting to catch the jewels in the circlet of her hair. Kael did the same, revealing a magnificent crown that made her hands itch with a need to bury themselves in his glorious hair. They both dropped their cloaks behind them.
Then Shayla gasped. Her gaze trailed down to the golden skin of his chest, painted with red markings. She breathed deeply and exhaled a needy moan she couldn’t restrain. “My lord?” she whimpered, completely overwhelmed by his scent. It was him, only magnified by a million, and it drove her crazy. She shook and panted, was on the verge of begging for…she didn’t know.
“What do you want to do, Shayla? What urge are you fighting? Give in to it.”
Her gaze cut from the red to his flaring eyes.
“Give in. Do it. Now.”
Chapter Nine
Shayla licked her lips as she gazed at the red-painted knot over Kael’s heart. She wanted to…to…
She sprang at him and opened her mouth over the red. The moment her tongue touched his skin, she groaned, a nearly strangled sound from deep in her throat. This was the urge she’d been feeling all day. She licked and sucked at the spot over his heart until only his clean tattoo remained. She drew back, whimpering. Not enough. It wasn’t enough.
“Here,” he rasped. He pointed to another symbol painted on the bulge of his bicep.
Needy sounds spilled from her as she pulled his arm to her mouth. She feasted on the mark, but it, too, was gone too soon.
He held his hair away from the left side of his throat. “Again.”
She moaned and climbed up him. His other arm strapped her against him, held her in place while she sucked and licked the red away. Kael grunted and shook under her frenzied attention and it drove her on.
It was blood. His blood. It sang to her, beckoned her. She needed more. So much more.
Kael couldn’t decide which ached worse, his throbbing fangs, elongated in preparation for the blood exchange, or his cock, which had hardened when Shayla walked into the room and approximated something like steel the moment her eyes discovered his blood. But she was so magnificent in her bloodlust that he reveled in every wanton lick and rough suck of her mouth on his skin. Her need and enthusiasm was more than he had hoped, and so sexy he feared he wouldn’t be able to restrain himself from burying his shaft in the wet heat he could already smell right here in the Great Hall.
There were too many eyes here for that, though. The witnesses were there to affirm the worthiness of the chosen, testify to the strength of the blood match and communicate to the human mate her acceptance into their community. In his case, the warriors’ presence also assured the acceptance of whatever newling heirs he and Shayla might have—having witnessed the match, his brethren would be able to defend the child’s birthright if ever challenged. Beyond what was required for the ceremony, though, Kael would never share her naked body with another male, not even just to watch. The very thought made him prone to violence.
Shayla whimpered and panted against Kael’s left ear. “More? Please?”
“My back,” he said, his voice a raw scrape.
She spun around him and pressed up tight against him as she feasted on the large mark that spanned his shoulder blades. Her arms wrapped around him and her fingernails dug into his chest muscles.
Nearly three hundred years had passed since a female had fed from his veins, since he’d had the deep satisfaction of nourishing a woman from the fruit of his body. His soul nearly sang for the return of such raw, primal pleasure.
Shayla’s arms circled his throat. “Oh, my God, Kael, what’s happening to me? I…I…”
“One more, Shayla. You’re doing so well.” He hauled her body around his and laid her head in his lap. He took a deep breath that failed to calm, then stuck his thumb under the buttons of his leathers and pulled down, opening his fly on one side to expose the flat expanse of his lower abdominals.
Fingernails dug into his clothed ass as her mouth latched onto the fertility symbol. She sucked so hard he was sure she would leave a bruise, and he relished the idea of her marking his body, claiming him in every and any physical way.
She whined, and he knew the blood was gone. Triumph surged through him.
Nearly frantic to have her, he threaded his hands under her arms and drew them both into a standing position. She swayed at the sudden movement, but he easily steadied her. For the first time, he had a full view of the incredible silk gown that skimmed over her luscious feminine curves. Her eyes refocused and raked his flesh, and he felt it as an almost physical caress.
It was time. He was so hungry for companionship. For love. He had no doubts now, none at all, about what he felt for the woman before him.
Kale reached up to his crown and grasped the central ornamental spike. Pushing a concealed release on the back, it clicked free and became the handle to a small hidden dagger. Shayla gasped when she saw it, then her face went pale when he placed the glinting blade to the taut base of his neck and sliced into his carotid artery.
Blood flowed freely in a dark, pulsing stream over his collarbone to his sternum.
Shayla’s thoughts had completely devolved to animalistic urges and she reveled in it. The heady spice of his blood—its taste and scent—unleashed an erotic euphoria within her that she didn’t think she would ever be able to give up or live without.
So as the thick red spilled down his chest, Shayla’s whole body ached to have it.
She hesitated only a second before gripping the corded muscles of his lats and curling her tongue around the heavy bead of blood running downward. The life-giving nectar exploded in her mouth, tasted about a thousand times more powerful directly from the source.
The source.
Her gaze fixed on the wound. Licking fast and greedily up his chest, Shayla arrived at his collarbone, swallowed the savory fluid coating her mouth, and latched her lips and teeth around the cut.
Shayla was utterly unprepared for the ecstasy of drinking directly from him. On the first full pull of his blood, she came so hard she went blind for the full duration of her orgasm. Brilliant light filled her entire visual field as every nerve and muscle in her body seized and jerked. Her juices trickled from her and slicked up her thighs.
Kael’s tight embrace supported her and he cried out a victorious roar that echoed through the hall.
Her entire physiology seemed to explode and remake itself as his blood completed the alterations she now knew the mating mark had begun. Almost instantly, she felt lighter, healthier, stronger, invincible.
And then his fangs punctured the tender spot at the base of her throat, and Kael began to feed from her as she fed from him.
An approving shout rose up from the surrounding men at his actions.
Her embrace with Kael was every bit as intimate as having sex. Maybe more. Because blood was central to sustaining his life and, now, hers too.
She drank and drank until she felt glutinous, but could not pull herself away. He devoured her in the same uncontrolled, needful way, setting off a deep satisfaction within her chest, between her legs. The longer it went on, the more attuned to the blood’s movement she became, and she realized they were literally exchanging blood. She flowed into him. He flowed into her.
Her heart felt as if it might rupture. Surely, such a small organ could not contain emotions this intense.
I love him. Oh, God, I truly love him. Kael. My Kael.
As I love you, my dearest heart.
His voice in her head startled her so much she nearly released her suction from his neck. His hand tangled in her hair and held her down, petted her, encouraged her to take al
l she wanted.
Do not fear, Shayla. We are a part of one another now, inside each other. Our blood connection creates a telepathy that is strongest when we feed and make love.
Shayla was in awe of the rightness of his voice in her mind, like he had always been there, providing solace, comfort, companionship. But, just in that moment, there was something else she desperately needed.
I need all of you in me, Kael. Please. I’ll go crazy if I can’t have you.
A possessive growl rumbled against her breasts. We are fully mated, love. I wait only for you to be sated before taking you back to our chamber and making love to you until the sun rises. Over and over again. Until neither of us can move a muscle.
She moaned against his neck. Just a little bit more. I just… She rushed and gulped at the life-giving sustenance.
We have all the time in the world. Slow down. Take your time, dear heart. Savor. Remember? Never apologize for needing me.
After a few more minutes passed, Shayla’s thirst was finally quenched. Slowly, she released her mouth from his neck, shocked to see the deep impressions of her teeth marks in an angry circle.
She gasped. Oh God, I’m sorry.
For what? For being enthusiastic? For being a little rough? My fangs are still buried an inch into your flesh, yes? Teeth marks come with the territory. A warm chuckle accompanied the thoughts. I know what I said, Shayla, but I need just a bit more of you. You taste so good, I don’t want to stop.
Whatever you want, whatever you need, it’s yours, Kael. She stroked his hair and held him, adoring that he needed her as much as she did him. Her earlier urgency subsided, though it didn’t disappear altogether. Deep down, under her skin, a low-level need remained, maybe would always remain. She hoped so. She never wanted to lose this feeling.
Free from her earlier bloodlust, Shayla became aware again of the men surrounding them, heads bowed and eyes averted, but still witnessing their union. The embarrassment or self-consciousness she might’ve expected never came. Her conviction in the rightness of all she had shared with Kael made it impossible to feel anything but confidence and pride and love.
Kael released her flesh and licked the wound closed. Because of his body’s natural healing powers, his cut had already knitted together.
He threaded his fingers into her hair and ran maddening openmouthed kisses from her chest, up her throat and over her chin. Finally, he claimed her mouth, tenderly, reverently. Minutes passed, or hours, she couldn’t really tell, before he broke off the kiss. Their marked hands joined, Kael pulled Shayla to his side. The warriors formed a line before them with Liam at its center. The fierce masculine approval they each wore made her feel she was one of them.
“My brethren, I present to you my mate, our queen, Her Majesty Shayla MacQuillan,” Kael said in a strained, proud voice.
All seven lowered to one knee in a coordinated movement, bowed their heads and declared in one voice, “Your Majesty, we are at your service, now and forever.”
Tears pricked Shayla’s eyes and words spilled from her lips before she’d thought what to say. “As I am at yours, and our king’s.”
Approving murmurs and nods moved through the men.
“Rise now, brothers, and be merry.”
The group surrounded them, clasped arms with Kael and offered him their wishes. To her, they bowed and complimented the match. A deep sense of family and community embraced Shayla, and she knew this was where she belonged.
But, just then, her interest didn’t lie in bonding with the warriors assembled around them, great as they seemed to be.
She wanted Kael.
The floor dropped away from her feet as he swept her into his arms. He winked and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
The men laughed and applauded.
“Well, my friends, if you’ll excuse me. I would like to have my mate to myself for a while.” A crooked grin brightened his face. “A long while.” He backed toward the door, still carrying her. “You see, I, too, plan to be in the service of the queen.”
Shayla gasped at his brazenness but couldn’t help her laughter, especially once the warriors started throwing catcalls at their retreating forms.
Good humor radiated from her lover, and his pleasure lit up her insides in return.
Kael paused outside a room she’d never entered. “Our private apartment,” he explained as he carried her over the threshold. He kicked the door closed behind them.
She could live on the adoration she saw in his eyes. “Mo chuisle mo chroí,” he murmured. You are the pulse of my heart, she heard in her mind.
“I love you, Kael.” She pressed a lingering kiss to his full lips.
“I love you, too,” he murmured around the edge of the kiss. “So much.”
She pulled away and rested her forehead on his, looked deep into his eyes. “I meant what I said in there, my love. I will always be in your service.”
“We are partners, now, Shayla. Equals. We will be in one another’s service, in all things.”
“I love the sound of that.”
“Mmm, so do I.” He turned on his heel and crossed the large living room. “And I suggest we begin right now.”
Shayla laughed as he picked up speed and pushed through a door into a large bedroom. In the center of the space sat a king-size poster bed with layers of gauzy, sheer panels hanging down from the four corners. That was all she had time to notice before Kael threw her onto the bed and sprawled on top of her.
His kisses started soft, but quickly became demanding, needy. She felt his urgency and returned it. They kissed and shared whispered declarations of love and removed each other’s clothing until nothing in the world stood between them.
Everything she’d ever wanted she held within her arms and the cradle of her thighs. Her Vampire Warrior King. Her Kael.
Then he was in her once more.
And they well served each other all that night. With love and passion. Over and over again.
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ISBN: 978-1-4592-2144-4
In the Service of the King
Copyright © 2012 by Laura Kaye
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Laura Kaye, In the Service of the King
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