Chapter 27

27

R hi

A huge smile cracks across Spencer’s face as he tumbles into the bed beside me, pulling me towards him.

“Fuck,” he says with elation, “fuck, that feels incredible.”

“The bond?” I ask him.

“The bond, your pussy, your pussy coming around my cock. All of it.” He rolls me towards him and kisses my mouth. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Spencer Moreau this happy – not even when he won that dueling cup.

He pulls back and looks down at me.

“Was it good for you too?” he says, still grinning, because the dude has never exactly been modest and he knows it was. “Do you feel all right?”

I smile back at him. “Yeah, I feel fine.” He beams at me and then settles down on the mattress, hugging me tight to his body and soon, his breathing mellows and I can tell he’s passed out.

I lie there.

I didn’t want to tell him, didn’t want to shatter his good mood. But something feels different. Not simply the new – the final – bond, alive and vibrant deep inside me. My magic too.

With each sealing of the bond it’s grown that little bit more, swelled in power. This, however, is different. That dark magic, the one they call crimson, scarlet, soars through my body, stronger than before, hissing in my veins, potent and powerful, drowning out my other magic.

What can it mean?

Christopher Kennedy’s words have been eating away at me – the fact I’m the Black Prince’s daughter making me uneasy. My dad’s explanation had made me feel a little better about that and Spencer had calmed my concerns. Now they come flooding back. Fear churning with the dark magic inside me.

I stare up at the ceiling afraid. I want to stay here with Spencer, snuggled in this bed. His presence is a comfort and I’m scared that if I crawl out of this bed, my fears and this dark magic will consume me. But I need to get back to that party. I’m bound to have been missed by now and stars know what people will think of me.

Carefully, I remove Spencer’s arm from around me and roll up to sit, shuffling across the mattress. I’ve just reached the edge of the bed when Spencer jolts.

At first, I think I’ve woken him, but then his entire body jerks violently. He’s changing and I sit there transfixed as his body transforms painfully into the beast’s.

In a matter of minutes, my gaze meets the beast’s eyes, glowing that chestnut brown in the darkness .

“Are you afraid, little mate?” he asks me, his gaze intense.

“No,” I say, rolling back down to lie by his side. “I just wasn’t expecting you.”

His tongue slides along his jaw. “I couldn’t resist it,” he says, his gaze sliding down my naked body. “He’s had you,” he says, growling. “Seeded your cunt.”

My cheeks flush. I was maybe okay with the dirty talk when it comes to Spencer, but the beast is another matter.

“We used a barrier spell,” I tell him, predicting what he has in mind. The beast snorts, obviously displeased with that bit of news. “Babies are not on the agenda.”

“But you sealed the bond. You are ours now. Bound to us for this lifetime.”

I don’t know why but the way he says it makes me shiver hard. The beast lifts one of his great paws and glides it down my body, the pads on his paw hard and calloused, his claws withdrawn. I shiver even harder.

“Such a pretty little thing. So sensitive. Did he make you fall apart?”

I nod.

“ I would like to make you fall apart, little mate. Over and over again.”

I swallow hard. I don’t think that is in the cards. I have a clear view of what hangs between the beast’s legs and it is pretty darn monstrous.

“Or perhaps you could suck on my iron like you sucked on his?” He draws out a claw and hooks it under my chin, lifting my gaze more firmly to his. “You looked so beautiful drinking down his seed. A hungry, needy little thing, aren’t you?”

I open my mouth to answer him. I can’t deny that the beast stirs something inside me – because no matter what Winnie says I am clearly a deranged slut who is horny for every one of my mates no matter what they have done or … what they are. And yet …

“How about we just lie here and talk,” I suggest.

“Too fast, little mate? No matter. I have waited an eternity to find you again. I can wait that little bit longer.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, my brow furrowing.

“We have been fated together through the ages, across the times,” he says, stroking his great paw back up my body, his fur brushing against my skin. “In different forms. In different places. Sometimes our time together has been fleeting. Sometimes it has lasted a human lifetime.”

I remember what Ellie told me about fated mates being destined for one another over and over again. Is that what he means?

Winnie seems convinced I’m Queen ?eelfl?d reincarnated. But maybe that was simply one time – one moment in time we were all brought together by fate. Maybe there were others too.

It seems so fantastical. I can’t wrap my head around it. And yet here I am lying in bed with a werebeast, brought to this palace on the back of a golden dragon.

Perhaps anything is possible.

“Just us or–”

“All six of us, little mate.”

“And every time we have met have you always taken the form of a were?”

He doesn’t seem to hear me. Instead he draws that claw down my body next, the faintest of scratches against my skin. At my belly, he pauses and tilts his head. His eyes flash.

“Something has changed inside you, little mate. Something is different.”

I go very still on the bed next to him. I want to swallow a second time, but I daren’t and I keep my eyes locked on his, refusing to flinch, refusing to give anything away.

He can’t know, can he? He can’t possibly tell.

He rings his claw around my belly button.

“Something dark lurks within. It always has. Dark, sinister, powerful. It has grown – although something keeps it contained.” My eyes drop to my belly, red scratches now run over my skin and I can almost see the dark magic swirling beneath. “You could destroy the world if you wanted to, little mate. Crush it all. Like you chose to before.”

The furrow on my brow deepens. “Queen ?eelfl?d? She saved the world. She was a good ruler.”

“Were you?” he asks me, searching deep inside my eyes.

“You think I’m her.” I screw up my brow. “Or she’s me.”

“You are you, little mate. Each time we have met.” He inhales my scent. “Always two sides to the coin, which way it lands is anyone’s guess. Different every time. How will it fall this time, I wonder?”

“Is that what the prophecy means?” I ask him.

He cups my breast in his paw, squeezing it, his eyes flashing.

“The prophecy,” he purrs. “Do you need a prophecy to tell you of your fate?”

I push off the bed, more disturbed by his words than his request to suck his giant cock.

“Little mate, now I have scared you,” he says, with some concern.

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.” I scoop my panties and the ruined dress off the floor and hurry to the door. “I need a glass of water,” I tell him.

The door is locked, but somehow I manage to remove Spencer’s spell and tumble into the suite, the pain in my newly formed bond acute .

Pip comes scuttling towards my feet, snorting away. I’m too distressed to even acknowledge him, tugging on my clothes and mending the dress with my magic.

This secret I’ve been harboring, this fear that’s been growing in my chest, is true, all true. There’s a darkness inside me, one that’s always lingered there. One that only Pip’s presence has held back and now I can feel it, stronger and more dangerous than ever.

I want to talk to Azlan about it or Stone or, stars, I wish Winnie were here. But I can’t tell them. I can’t tell them the truth.

That I wanted to kill Christopher Kennedy. I relished the chance to do it. Hell, it made that crimson magic tingle and now that magic is more powerful than ever, threatening to take me over.

I stand in the dark suite, my heart pounding, that dark magic sizzling, struck by indecision. What do I do?

I think on Spencer’s words.

It’s actions that make us, not where we come from.

But what have my actions been? I’ve killed and maimed. I’m in love with men who kill for fun, who have each tortured and hurt me in their own ways. And my temper! I blasted Spencer and Summer with crimson magic. I’m lucky I didn’t kill them. And oh, there have been so so many times I’d liked to have killed Summer Clutton-Brock and every single member of her little gang. Does that make me a bad person? An evil one? It must do! Does the dark blood in my veins, the crimson magic in my body, make me that way? Is Pip, my ever faithful familiar, the only thing that’s prevented me from falling into the darkness completely? From tearing up the world? And now that magic is more powerful than ever, is there anything that can hold me back ?

What if I am something more sinister, far darker than the Lord Protector himself?

The beast seems to think I am. Seems to think I have been in the past too.

But they said the Black Prince was a dark magical, didn’t they? An evil man? And yet he doesn’t seem that way. He seems charming, his kingdom prosperous, his subjects loyal and happy, celebrating the return of his daughter with him.

The pain in my stomach from the freshly formed bond is unbearable and I drop down on my knees and scrabble through our discarded belongings, searching for the triggerwot.

“Rhianna.” I look up and find Azlan lurking in the doorway. “I’ve been looking for– What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I snap, yanking at empty pockets. “I’m searching for triggerwot.”

Azlan glances towards the bedroom. “You sealed the bond with Spencer. I felt it. We all felt it.”

“Yes,” I mutter as the pain makes me hiss.

“Why aren’t you in there with him now? There’s no need for triggerwot if you–”

“It’s complicated.”

He strides towards me and crouches down, hooking a finger under my chin and lifting my face to his.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong? Or do I have to go beat it out of him?” His voice is full of menace.

“It’s nothing to do with Spencer. I wanted to seal the bond with him. I wanted to be with him.”

“So again, I repeat, why are you out here?”

“I have to get back to the feast,” I mutter half-heartedly.

“Fine,” he says, standing up, cracking his knuckles and marching towards the bedroom.

“Wait! No!”

He halts but doesn’t face me.

“Something’s changed.” The pain in my gut is fierce and I screw up my eyes and grind my teeth.

“Your powers have grown again,” he says. “It happens every time you seal the bond with one of us. It’s grown all our powers.”

“Yes, but this time it’s different.”

He comes back to crouch beside me and reaches for his cloak in the pile of clothes, plucking triggerwot straight from his pocket and handing it to me. I chew on the leaves and immediately the pain eases. I sigh and rock back onto my behind.

“Explain,” he says.

“The dark magic – the crimson magic – it’s stronger than before. Much stronger.” I watch his face with anxiety. Is this where Azlan, ever dependable and loyal, finally realizes just how fucked up I am and recoils in disgust?

His face doesn’t change.

“It’s not surprising, Rhianna. Sealing the bond has increased your powers – all your powers.”

“But the beast said–”

“The beast!” he growls.

“Is a part of our …” I wave my hands around frantically, “whatever you want to call our set up.”

“Family.”

“Okay,” I say, “the beast is as much a part of this family as you or I.”

Azlan nods without argument. Maybe a beast and an assassin aren’t exactly his preferred choices for this new family of ours; then again his actual blood family consists of a power-hungry psychopath so it’s hard for him to complain.

“What did the beast say? ”

“He seems to think we’ve met before – have been fated together in past lives.”

“Sounds like Ellie’s woo woo shit to me.”

“That isn’t the bit I’m worried about,” I say, wringing my hands. He takes them in his and squeezes them.

“What are you worried about, little mate?” he says gently.

“He says it’s always been the same: whenever we’ve met in these past lives, I’ve always had both light and dark inside me. And sometimes the light has dominated and … and sometimes the dark …” I trail off, watching his face a second time with my heart in my throat.

“Hmmm,” he says, mulling over my words. “Spencer … Spencer isn’t the first were I’ve come across, Rhianna. I found them all to be rather mystical and superstitious. Maybe it is down to the circumstances they find themselves in – maybe they need something bigger to believe in to persevere through the prejudice and persecution.” I go to argue with him but he speaks again first. “Or maybe they know more than us. Maybe he is right. What difference does it make what you may have done in past lives? What we all may have done? All that matters is the present and what we choose to do now.”

“That’s what Spencer said,” I mutter, “that who we are is determined by the choices we make.”

“I think you are far better off listening to him than his beast,” Azlan snarks and I smile. “Rhianna,” he says, pulling me closer towards him, “I’ve spent the last decade chasing down bad people–”

“Bad people like me.”

“No, Rhi, you are not bad. If I’m honest with myself, many of them weren’t bad people, they’d just found themselves caught on the wrong side of the authorities. However, several of them were bad people, very, very bad people. And I can tell you, with my hand on my heart, you are not like them. Not like them at all.”

I inhale, his masculine scent swimming into my nostrils, and filling my lungs, and then I let that same breath out slowly.

“What if the bad magic takes over? What if I can’t control it? I have a temper and I’m not always the most patient of people.”

Azlan tugs me right into his lap. “Really, I hadn’t noticed that about you at all,” he teases. I pinch his bicep. “Or your occasional acts of violence,” he says, flexing his bicep where I just pinched. “But, seriously, Rhianna, I believe in you – we all do. And if that ever happened, if you ever struggled to control it, we’d be right here to help you. I promise you that.”

I snuggle up against his broad chest. There’s something about being in his arms, strong and dependable, that makes me feel so safe, like nothing and no one could harm me.

“Thank you, Azlan,” I say.

He strokes his fingers along my jawline and tangles them in my hair.

“I think we’re both guilty of hiding our feelings away at times. And I’m not exactly the best at talking about mine. But I think it’s better when we try.”

“Yes,” I say. I feel better for talking to him, the worries dissipating. He’s right, I have these five men here to help me – to help me make the right choices. “However,” I add, “I happen to think you’re very good at showing me your feelings in other ways.”

“I am?” he says, voice lowering and his grip in my hair tightening. “How’s that, little mate?”

“With your lips,” I say, tracing my fingertips around his mouth, “with your touch,” I take his hand from my waist and draw my fingers up his, “with your body,” I glide my hand down that broad chest of his, “and with your cock.” I grip him through the front of his pants, stiff and hard.

“You forgot my tongue,” he growls, licking up my throat and then sinking his tongue into my mouth. I wriggle around until I’m straddling his lap as he kisses me. I grind against him.

I bet Winnie would be rolling her eyes at me. I seriously can’t keep it in my pants. I blame the bond and hormones and the fact that fate has handed me possibly the five hottest men on the planet. I really can’t be held responsible for my actions.

I guess Azlan is thinking the same thing.

“You have such an insatiable appetite,” he growls into my mouth. “It’s going to take five of us just to satisfy it.”

His words make me shiver hard with desire and the next thing I know he’s rolling me down on the floor and gathering up my dress.

The bedroom was bad enough but now we’re doing this right here in the middle of the suite – on display for anyone who comes looking for us.

I should care.

I don’t.

All I care about is his hands on my body, his mouth on my skin and him inside me. He swims his fingers through my folds – still sticky with arousal and Spencer – and I rub myself against him, a mewing sound bubbling in my throat.

He doesn’t even bother to undress us. He tugs down his zipper, freeing himself of his pants and murmurs the barrier spell.

Then, with his arms braced either side of my head, he thrusts into me .

“I love the feeling of you inside me,” I murmur, as I watch him transfixed, the way he uses his powerful body to pleasure me, thrusting deep inside me, knocking against my sensitive clit, making me dizzy with the sensations.

“Because it’s where I belong,” he says in that deep voice of his, a voice that rumbles in his chest and seems to vibrate through my own body.

Alone in the forest, I used to imagine what this would be like. And it was nothing like this. So vulnerable, yet so cherished. So invasive, yet so intimate. So raw, yet so cerebral. I never realized it was possible to feel this close to another person.

I come, my spine arching and bliss racing through my body. He watches me, eyes locked on me the whole time as I writhe beneath him, and when it’s done, he flips me over on to my stomach, pressing my chest down into the hard floor and lifting up my hips. Then he takes me from behind, the angle making it even deeper and even more intense. I stretch my hands above my head, scraping my fingernails into the polished floorboards and arching my back like a cat, forcing him even deeper.

“Fuck,” he says, his fingers digging deep into the flesh of my hips, “fuck, little mate. You are so fucking delicious.”

He loses his careful pace, slamming into me once, twice, three times and coming deep inside me with the fourth, moaning his pleasure in a way that tips me over the edge a second time. Then he collapses down on top of me, smoothing the hair away from my face and kissing my cheek.

“You’re good, so, so good,” he murmurs into my ear and then he scoops me up into his arms and carries me back to the bedroom, laying me out on the bed beside a sleeping Spencer. I wriggle over the bed and snuggle up to Spencer’s warm body, peering up at Azlan.

“Get some sleep,” he whispers, about to move off. I catch his wrist.

“Don’t go,” I say, patting the sliver of mattress beside me.

“There isn’t room,” he says gruffly.

I give him my most determined look. “There’s plenty.” I pat the mattress again.

He shakes his head, but slips out of his jacket, his shirt and his ruined pants, and slides into the bed next to me.

Snuggled with my back against Spencer, I wrap my arm over Azlan’s waist and one leg between his.

“You know, Phoenix says you are a brat and I’m beginning to think he may be right.”

“You just said I was good,” I purr.

“Yeah,” he says softly, stroking my face again. “You’re my good little mate.”

I close my eyes, a smile hovering on my lips and soon I’m sound asleep. All my worries, for now, silenced and sedated.