Kyn Series (4 page)

Maria hurried across the large lobby and headed for the front door. Navigating on instinct, she was thankful that the place was simply laid out and, more importantly, pretty much empty.

Apart from one human maid, who took one look at the bloodstained and torn state of Maria’s clothes and hurried past quickly, the former Dhampir saw no one else. She’d always wondered what it would be like to be fully Kyn, what the difference would be…and well, not much really.

Her senses were a little shaper, but they’d already been sharp. Her hearing seemed to be more acute though, picking up the maid’s heartbeat easily as she disappeared off down the corridor. But the main difference was hunger.

A deep clawing, gut clenching hunger.

She rubbed her stomach uneasily. She needed to get to her father’s and feed. Pronto. Her father kept bagged supplies in the fridge for just such a purpose. Well actually, that was in case he fancied a snack, but Maria knew the rules.

Newly turned Kyn did not feed on humans, not until they’d learned to control themselves and their hunger. She decided that wasn’t going to be a problem for her. The very thought of biting and feeding from a human made her feel slightly sick. Pressing her hand harder into her stomach to try and settle the feeling, she reached out and started to open the door.

She didn’t complete the action.

A large hand reached over her shoulder, slamming the door shut with a resounding crash. Maria whirled around, a retort ready on her lips, a retort that died unuttered as her gaze collided with one of warm quicksilver. Before she could move the Warrior crowded her against the door, his hard muscled body pressing against hers. His hand drove into her hair, holding her still at the nape of her neck.

“You’re not going anywhere,” he growled as he leaned down to kiss her.

It was the hottest kiss Maria had ever experienced. No gentle exploration, but a deep and darkly dominant kiss, plundering her soft lips and demanding entrance to the silken depths of her mouth. His tongue brushed over hers as he thrust seductively, pressing his body into her until they both moaned.

And then when Maria didn’t think she could possibly take any more, he lifted his head, eyes boring down into hers. In them she read everything: burning need, hunger, loneliness, fear, hope, desire… She caught her breath, the sheer depth of emotion there shocking her to her core. Eyes wide, she lifted her hand to smooth gentle fingers across his cheekbone. A lover’s touch as inside her, her soul stirred and called out to him, recognising a kindred spirit.

He turned into her hand, nuzzling for a second before he captured it with his. Eyes never leaving hers he nipped the soft pads of her fingers, the thrill that shot through her making her catch her breath.

He kissed the palm of her hand before dragging the tip of a fang across the sensitive flesh on the inside of her wrist, a look of such erotic promise in his eyes that she groaned. Leaning her head back against the door, she was surprised she hadn’t melted into a puddle and slithered to the floor at his feet.

They were so caught up in their own sensual world neither of them heard the sound of a door opening somewhere down the corridor, nor the sound of approaching footsteps. “What the hell? Marak, kindly explain yourself!”

They froze at the imperious voice, Marak with his lips still pressed into the delicate skin of her wrist. Deep colour washed over her cheeks as she realised they’d been caught in the middle of a delicate situation.

Ohmygod.
A few more moments and they may have been actually going for it up against the damn door. Despite her convictions about needing no man, all it had taken was one hot kiss from the right Warrior to have her whimpering in need and almost begging him to take her, to make her his.

*

Marak closed his eyes, his body taut and virtually shaking with the control he was exerting not to just haul her to someplace silent and act on all the dark impulses surging through his mind. Most of which involved both of them getting naked and acting on the desire that even now stretched tight between them.

“Elsveth, your timing, as usual, is impeccable,” he bit out, casting a glance over his shoulder.

It was as bad as he feared. The entire Lord’s Council was assembled behind them watching with interest and, in some cases, satisfaction. Of course they would be satisfied. They’d just caught him in a compromising position with a female. He wouldn’t be surprised if Elsveth wasn’t already mentally rehearsing the words for the binding ceremony.

He sighed in resignation, pulling Maria closer to him to shield her from their curious gazes as long as possible. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head, “I’m sorry, little one,” he murmured, aware that he’d removed all her choices now. Even if she refused him, which he had no intention of letting her after the way she had just responded to his kiss, the Council would still put pressure on her for this union. But try as he might, even the shield of his larger body didn’t last long.

“Oh my god! Maria, is that you?” another voice demanded, echoing sharply around the large lobby. “Is…is that… That’s blood! What the hell have you done to my daughter?”

“Dad! I can handle this!” she insisted, pushing at Marak’s broad shoulder so she could peer around and look at her father. Marak didn’t move, their eyes locking for a moment in a silent battle. Finally he nodded and relaxed a little, moving slightly to the side so she could see what was going on. His arms slid around her and pulled her against him possessively, his hard gaze sweeping the assembled lords, daring any of them to argue his claim.

“You’re fine my bloody arse!” Garen Ravensford retorted. “You’re covered in blood, your
own
blood! Marak…” His voice dropped low and threatening. “Let her go or so help me god, I’ll kill you with my bare hands.”

Marak’s grip tightened, his lip curling back in the faint hint of a snarl as he locked gazes with the Kyn lord. He wasn’t giving her up. They’d have to take her over his cold, dead body, and the look he gave Ravensford stated that clearly.

“Despite the fact he
is
an irritating bastard I believe that’s called Regicide, which I’m fairly certain is treason, not to mention being somewhat hazardous to health. Your health Ravensford.”

Kalen’s voice broke through the silence in the room as two tall figures stepped between the couple against the door and the assembled lords. Kalen and Vixen. Their stances were passive, non-combative. But matching looks in their eyes said that could change without notice.

There was a furtive shuffling as the power balance in the room shifted, a subtle movement away from Ravensford as the council made it clear that, if he went loco and attacked the three, he was on his own.

They might have outnumbered the Warriors, but they all knew those were easy odds for the Warrior caste, trained killers in every sense of the word. Plus Vixen scared the lot of them.

“I don’t care!” Garen’s face was tortured as he took a step forwards. It was obvious he cared deeply for his daughter, fear for her stark in his eyes as he looked past Kalen. “If he’s hurt her…”

Kalen’s grim expression relaxed somewhat. He half turned, jerking his head towards the couple, who were wrapped up in each other again. Marak held the woman possessively, his stance protective as he sheltered her from everyone in the room with his own body.

“Look at them,” Kalen said quietly. “He’s bonding with her already. At the moment, Ravensford, your daughter is the safest woman on the planet.”

Regicide, wasn’t that…murder of a monarch?

Everything, time, the events around them, slowed to a standstill for Maria as she looked up at the man who held her. She knew her shock was mirrored in her eyes, her ability to hide her feelings gone the same way as her self-control had high-tailed it over the horizon when he’d touched her.

“You’re Marak?” she asked, her voice little more than a whisper, searching his face for the truth. He didn’t answer, just nodded silently. He didn’t need to. The answers had been there all along, his unspoken aura of command, his arrogance and order giving…and this place? How could he be anyone else?

She bit her lip, nibbling it in her agitation, a bad habit. She’d only gone and gotten herself bitten by the damn
king.
The guy heading every matchmaking mama’s eligible bachelors list for the last couple of hundred years… Hell, she could practically hear them gnashing their teeth at her already.

“Right, they’re gone,” Kalen’s voice announced from somewhere over Marak’s shoulder.

“Move, you great oaf!” Maria demanded, pushing at his brick wall of a chest until he moved a little and she could see the two Warriors behind him.

“Now can you two
please
get a room? I have to see much more of this lovey-dovey mushy shit and I’m gonna throw!” Kalen groused, a bad-tempered look on his otherwise handsome face.

“So how about it, little one? You fancy taking this Warrior on?” Marak asked, turning back to her as the other two Warriors left, sniping at each other as usual. He ignored them, concentrating her with an unreadable expression.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were the bloody king?” she demanded, one eyebrow arched.

“Would it have made any difference?”

“Hell no!” Maria snorted. “I’d have run faster.” she added, a teasing light in her eyes.

“You know what’ll happen if we go upstairs, don’t you?” He leaned in to drop a kiss on the soft skin of her neck, right over where he’d bitten her, and breathed in deeply. Scenting her.

This was it, crunch time.

Did she play it safe or did she give into everything feminine in her and take the biggest chance in her life?

“Err duh! Do I
look
stupid?” she threw back. “We go upstairs, get naked and screw each others’ brains out. Sound about right?”

She made her decision, a giggle of mischief rising in her throat as she took in his stunned look at her blunt statement, revelling in the dark look that followed hot on its heels.

“Actually…who says anything about going back upstairs?” she asked wickedly. “If I’m going to let you bite me again, I know the perfect place…”

“Why did you want to come in here?” Marak asked a few minutes later as they slipped through the heavy door into the main hall. Shrouded in darkness, the large banners on the walls and the plush furnishings were rendered monotone in the moonlight that stole in through the high arched windows.

Maria smiled, reaching up to kiss his neck, open mouthed kisses and tiny little nips that had him growling at her.

“I’ll bet you never did it up there, did you?” she whispered, nodding her head towards the throne at the end of the room. His eyes widened a little, then immediately darkened. “I think I’m going to like having you around, little minx.”

He closed the door behind them and threw the heavy bar across with a flick of his wrist, a negligent show of strength that stole Maria’s breath away. But not nearly as much as the look in his eyes did when he backed her up across the room, shedding his jacket and shirt. He backed her up to the throne until her heels hit the dais, and she carried on, stepping backwards in the dark.

“In fact, I’m going to like having you. Period,” he added in a dark whisper, following her.

She stopped in front of the throne, no place left to go. Marak towered over her. His pale eyes were windows to his soul, now almost black with need and hunger, the expression on his face almost cruel.

“You want this, don’t you?” he asked, a muscle jumping in his jaw as he looked down at her. “Because once I touch you I’m not going to be able to stop.”

Maria nodded, a shiver going through her. “You gonna get on it with or just yap all night?” she asked, a challenging look in her eyes. He growled, dragging her to him and kissing her hard. She didn’t argue, fitting against him, her hands smoothing feverishly over his skin, revelling in the feel of hot satin skin over hard muscles.

Clothing fell away, stripped by impatient hands. Hers or his, she wasn’t sure which. Then he urged her backwards, sitting her down as he knelt between her parted thighs. She moaned, biting her lip as his erection slid against the cleft of her sex, already damp with desire. He rolled his hips and the friction made her cry out, pleasure rolling through her.

He smiled in the darkness. “Oh you like that, do you?” Marak rocked his hips again and sent stars shooting into the blackness behind Maria’s eyelids. She pressed her eyes shut, nodding silently. His lips caressed her neck, the tiniest nip of his fangs setting her hips jerking in response. “You smell so good… I want to taste you.”

Maria caught her breath as he moved, parting her thighs wider with his hands. He lifted and hooked her knees over the arms of the chair, opening her body completely to him, exposing her to his avid perusal.

“Knew this thing would come in useful one day,” he murmured, shifting to trail hot kisses from one of her knees down her inner thigh. Anticipation coursed through Maria as he moved closer to where she wanted, needed him.

“Perfect,” he breathed, blowing a cool breath across the sensitive flesh of her sex, moist with her excitement. She bit her lip as he parted her folds with his thumbs, and then the warmth of his tongue slid along her, seeking the sensitive nub of her clit.

Maria’s back arched, a soft cry on her lips as his warm mouth closed over her. He nibbled, suckled and flicked her with the very tip of his tongue until she thought she was going out of her mind with need. Her body clenched, tension low in her belly and building between her thighs as she held him, hands running through the short spikes of his dark hair.

Though she wasn’t innocent—the naturally healthy curiosity of a teenager had seen to that—she’d never felt this way with any man before. But she couldn’t really call the boys she’d been out with before “men,” not compared to Marak.

His large hands stroked the insides of her thighs as he worked her body with his lips and tongue, unbearably gentle touches that tumbled Maria over the edge without warning. Her body stiffened, hips jerking against him as the tension within her shattered into a thousand pieces. Pleasure rolled through her in a hard wave, taking her breath and her senses away for long moments.

“Oh wow,” she said. She opened her eyes as it subsided slowly, only to find him leaning over her. “You’re good. More!”

“You want more? Then more you get,” he promised in a low growl. His big frame trembled from holding back. In a deft movement he shifted his hips and slid deep within her, seating himself to the hilt in one movement.

Their groan was simultaneous, masculine and feminine mixing perfectly as he froze, letting her adjust to his size.

“Don’t move,” he ordered harshly, his hands hard on her hips as beads of sweat gathered on his upper lip.

Maria had no intention of moving at the moment, her breath catching hard at the invasion of his body into hers, feeling herself stretch to accommodate him.

Her eyes fluttered half-closed as she waited, fighting through the slight discomfort until it felt good, the burning easing, leaving just the sensation of being filled completely. More than she ever had been before. She arched her back, obeying an instinctive urging to move, rocking her hips against him, the friction of their bodies feeling good. So very good.

Marak growled and hauled her closer, covering her mouth in a kiss that neared desperation. He started to move, slowly at first, each long slide creating delicious friction between them.

But slow just wasn’t doing it for Maria. She needed more, needed that hard male body pounding into hers. Needed this more than her next breath.

“Marak,
please!
” she begged, wrapping her legs around and pushing harder against his hips. “I need…more.”

Marak’s nostrils flared as he moved, resting one hand above her head. Bracing himself, he smiled in the darkness.

“Always with the ‘more’s’… Demanding aren’t you?” he breathed, hauling her hips to him as his pace changed.

He drove into her, hard powerful thrusts that touched the very neck of her womb and forced the air from her lungs. Need, arousal, hunger spiralled through her as he pounded against her hips, each movement stroking nerve endings that cried out in pleasure.

She moaned as she buried her face into his neck, pressing hot kisses against the strong column, tasting the sheen of sweat on his skin as she brushed her tongue over the powerful pulse that beat there.

“Oh god Maria…
yes!
” he begged raggedly, a tortured sound as he thrust again, impaling her on his rigid cock.

She smiled, swirled her tongue over his skin again, confident in her feminine hold over him. Then she bit, her fangs sliding through his skin gently, delicately. He groaned, pumping harder as his blood rushed into her mouth, the rich taste sending fire through her body, shivering over every inch of her skin.

Then it was all too much. Her body clenched around his, strong muscles gripping him hard as she came apart. Pleasure exploded in her, spreading outwards and filling her completely. She threw her head back, crying out, a cry that was lost in his mouth as he caught her lips in a hard kiss. His hips pounded once…twice before he stiffened, his body pulsing inside hers as his own climax hit him. Unbelievable pleasure, white hot as he spilled his seed deep inside her.

Slowly Maria opened her eyes, smiling as she found him looking down at her, his expression stunned and making no attempt to hide it. Then he smiled, dark amusement coiling in the warm silver depths. “Oh…you’re good,” he breathed, leaning down to kiss her, repeating her own words back at her. “More!” he demanded, laving his rough tongue over her nipple.

She whimpered, arching her back to offer the soft globe to his lips. “Oh yes, definitely more…”

The End