Rake sighed and wrapped his arms around me, dropping his chin to the top of my head, and stroking my back.
“I know it’s rough, but he will get over it. He always does,” he murmured quietly.
“I know. I mean, I guess I know. I just… things had been so good…”
“Is he still telling you what went wrong? Or is he—”
“He’s not talking to me at all—he linked me when I arrived in that room to tell me that he couldn’t take time to talk with you all there. And I get that. But… it was the first words we exchanged today.”
~ JESSE ~Rake had been gone more than an hour when I felt Cazz’s power ripple through the Palace like a sonic wave.I sucked in and sat up in bed where I’d been trying to sleep and instinctively reached out for him in the bond.‘Cazz—what’s wrong, what’s—’‘Come to me.’I blinked.His voice was deep and resonant, husky and rich. It made a shiver travel down my spine.‘Where are you?’‘Do you submit, Jesse?’
~ JESSE ~For a time I was so deeply lost in the sensations he wrung from my flesh that I couldn’t think beyond how to arch, or roll, or press to increase the contact and peak my pleasure.I was panting so loud it echoed in the chamber, and Cazz was no better. Sweat sheened his brow and his eyes glinted like blades. He kissed me with such fervor he threatened to suck my tongue out of my mouth. He tasted my throat with such intensity, his teeth scraped and threatened to actually bleed me. And he pulled me against him so hard I suspected I would be sore in the morning.My eyes kept fluttering closed with each wave of sensation so that I caught only glimpses of him…Cazz, his head thrown back and his throat bare to me.
~ JESSE ~I froze, gaping at him, waiting for him to grin and say it was a joke. But he didn’t. “Cazz… What are you—”“Let. Me. Compel you,” he whispered, then reached up to push a strand of hair back from my face and tucked it tenderly behind my ear. “I won’t do you any harm. I will talk to you, stroke you, use it to make your body sing.”“But.. you already do—why would you need to—”“Because I demonstrated my trust in you—trust I had given to no one. Ever. And then you threw it back
~ JESSE ~His upper lip twitched like he would sneer, but he kept blinking like I’d taken him by surprise. And his brows pinched down towards a frown.He didn’t speak—not out loud, and not in the bond. Just stared at me, searching my eyes.“You submit to my choice?”“In everything, Cazz,” I breathed. “I know you—I know your heart. It’s bound to mine. I trust that man—that male. I trust that King.”His breath caught and I saw his resolve waver. Please, God. Please. I leaned in closer until my
~ CASIMIR ~Watching Jesse shrink into that robe, her eyes wide and sad and scared, then run from the room… it touched something deep inside me so that I almost ran after her. Almost.But I knew if I did she likely wouldn’t live through the night.I was protecting her.The question was, why?Everything in my body thrummed from the joy of taking her—and from the sheer rage of what she’d done. It felt like my bones hummed deep inside me, like a gong had been rung in my blood, and it vibrated in my bones. There were lights flickering at the edge of my vision. I didn’t know if they were simply my body unwinding from the intensity of the orgasm, or if it was a result of the surge of power I’
“Beware those who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” - Gospel of Matthew 7:15 ***** ~ JESSE ~ The guards tipped us out into the room like puppies out of a bag. I landed heavily on rough stone, scraping my knees and palms, hissing against the pain. But they'd freed my hands and ankles before they shoved me in here, so, with my heart thudding in my chest, I scrabbled to pull down the blindfold that was over my eyes and get my bearings quickly. Dark room. Stone walls and ceiling. Warm lights. Cold air. Damp. Shadows my eyes couldn’t penetrate—and more shadows behind us I wished they couldn’t. Left and right, women shrieked and sobbed, hitting the floor, some rolling, one planting face-first into the rock and laying there, unmoving. Behind me, a cluster of guards filled the doorway, with more spreading out along the wall. They didn't carry weapons, but they didn't need to. They were all well over six foot and huge with it. Strong and rugged… feral. B
~ CASIMIR ~I was horrified.When I’d told Ghere to order the Reapers to find women from the poorer side of the human city, I had imagined the wicked types. The women who embraced their fate and it made them bold. Instead I’d been sent a box of poorly bred puppies suitable only for drowning?What the actual fuck?“God help us,” one of them murmured.I snorted.“I assure you, God abandoned this place long ago,” I drawled.The woman looked at me, shocked. It was the one at the center who’d stayed on her feet. She’d been staring around the chamber in horror, murmuring to herself, clearly forgetting that we wolves enjoyed heightened senses.She remembered now.The guards laughed, but the women’s eyes snapped down to her feet. She dropped her chin. Her hair, a rich mahogany brown, the kind that would spark red in sunlight, fell around her face in long waves, though it was messy and matted now.She was a thin little thing, though there was evidence of muscle under those terribly fitting clot
~ JESSE ~As I’d listened to the King’s pompous tirade, it had become clearer and clearer to me that it was not just bad luck that I was here.The question was, would I step out of the flames of one man’s making, and straight into another? Or was this truly an opportunity for escape?“I will be your mate… if you’ll have me.”The King’s eyes narrowed.His servant’s brows rose and he raised his hands. “Oh, I don’t think you understood—”“Why?” the King asked, his voice deep and skeptical. But I didn’t miss the glimmer in his eyes. I’d surprised him.I swallowed hard and prayed I’d understood all of this correctly. “I think… I know, I can give you what you want. And in exchange, you can give me what I need.”The King’s brows rose then. “How very presumptuous of you. But I will take the bait: What is it that you want?”“I propose… an exchange.”“Of what?”“You take me as your mate and you keep me safe like you promised. Away from my world and… and anyone I knew. When I bear you an heir, yo