Chapter 10Varos

Chapter

Ten

VAROS

H er beautiful lips parted in shock at my words. I was taunting her, but a part of me desperately wanted to see her do that very thing. I had no desire to touch her, but I couldn’t lie to myself about wanting to witness it.

“That’s not how it works,” she gasped as she shifted on the cold stone floor. I had visions of her lying on the softest bed, covered in the most luxurious silks. She shouldn’t be on the filthy ground. I gritted my teeth.

“How does it work then, princess?” The endearment was another curse, a taunt toward her being the daughter of such a high ranking member of Lucifer’s army. She might as well be a princess. I was once a prince of the Underworld, me and my brothers. Until everything was taken from us in a single moment.

“I-” she swallowed, the sound loud in the quiet cave. “I have to take it from someone else.”

“Right. You have to steal the energy from your partner as you fuck them blind.”

She shook her head again. “That’s not what I do.”

I leaned forward as I studied her, noting her flushed face and the way she fidgeted beneath the strange clothing. “No? Do you ask nicely? Would you like to ask me… nicely ?” I couldn’t help but tease her, ignoring the way my own heart rate increased at my question. Would she ask me to fuck her? I wouldn’t. Fucking her would mean mating her, and that was something I would never do. But… “Would you ask me to pull my cock out and stroke it for you? Right here? Right now? Would that feed your little succubus, princess?”

“I…” She closed her eyes and moaned. “Oh, gods. I don’t want…”

“What? Is my cock not good enough for you?” I growled.

“Fuck!” She cried out, practically writhing now. “It is! It would be! But I don’t want to do that to you. God Varos, you’re my mate?—”

“Not mates!” I snarled. I reached for the ties on my thin trousers, breaking them in my haste and anger. I yanked the trousers open, allowing my straining cock to burst free. I had felt our connection the moment she stepped into the cell, but it wasn’t until she returned to the cave after I’d had time to heal most of my injuries that I’d been able to become aroused. The strength of her pheromones would have brought me to my knees if I hadn’t already been sitting, leaning against the wall. My cock had become so hard as she bathed and moved around the cave that it was nearly as painful as any injury I’d sustained over the years. She may have said she didn’t want to hurt me, but she was torturing me just as surely as her father ever did.

I wrapped my fist around my pulsing cock and groaned at the sheer pleasure. I hadn’t touched myself or been touched that way in thousands of years and didn’t know if I could survive the pleasure. I stroked once, twice, then open my eyes to see her staring at me with hunger shining from her glowing yellow eyes. She was already taking in my energy. A part of me hated her for it. Another part of me wanted her to take more. My mate was starving, and I needed to sate her hunger.

“Is this what you need?” I rasped. “You need me to stroke my cock until I spill my seed all over the ground?”

“Gods, yes !” She threw her head back and wailed to the ceiling of the cave. Her hands were working frantically under her garment, and I almost demanded she remove them to show me her pretty cunt.

“No, princess,” I snarled. “Eyes on me. You take your eyes away from me, or you close them, I stop. Are we clear?” Her eyes popped back open, and she nodded frantically, the movement of her hands never stopping. “Good girl,” I growled.

With her eyes glowing, watching every movement of my hand, I roughly fisted my girth. I ran my thumb over the head of my cock, using the copious amounts of precome there to lubricate my movements, wishing that it was her own juices coating my length. Over and over, I jerked my cock, my eyes flitting between her own and the quick, frantic movements of her hands. When her movements became jerky and her hips thrust under her garments as if searching for my cock, I knew she was close to erupting. Perfect timing.

“Here it is, princess. My offering to you.” With a long, drawn out groan, I felt the sensation of electricity ignite inside me, traveling from my spine down to my sack. The force of my come making its way through my cock was a painful pleasure I thought I could surely die from. The whole time my seed erupted from me in great arcs across the floor, I watched as my mate opened her mouth to scream before biting hard on her bottom lip to hold it back. I growled as I watched her whole body jerk and her hand become still as a trickle of blood slowly dribbled down her chin. Never again would she hold back from me. I would hear her screams of pleasure.

Once her body seemed to collapse into itself, she blinked at me dazedly through the low, burning flames. Her eyes were no longer glowing, and her succubus pheromones were no longer flowing from her like a river. But it was easy to see she was far from sated. My mate would need much more than a simple session with my hand to be fully fed.

Her gaze cleared as I watched. The moment that clarity hit her at what we’d both done, her expression changed, becoming guarded and—though it was difficult to imagine coming from the High General’s daughter—ashamed. I watched as she squeezed her eyes closed then carefully turned over on her spot, readjusting the garment that covered her.

Goodnight, princess.

I sat watching as my mate grunted and shifted on the floor. She’d been doing that most of the night as I watched over her. I didn’t need much rest. Being chained to one spot for most of my existence, there was little to do other than sleep while waiting in dread for the next torture session. Counting cracks in the stone, memorizing them and every other individual imperfection grew old after the first dozen or so years. So, instead of sleeping, I watched, thought, and fed the fire to help ward off the chill of the cave floor.

I was coming to terms with the woman who was meant to be my mate. My initial reaction was to reject her. It was a bitter pill to swallow knowing my life would be forever entwined with the daughter of my enemy. But the longer I was around her, the more I realized that other than her coloring, she was nothing like the High General.

She was compassionate and caring. She befriended a wild beast when most would have simply slaughtered him for the meat. She also hunted to feed me, knowing it would heal me after the poor way I treated her. She’d never said a negative word to me in return. Instead, she seemed resigned to the fact, almost expected, that the mate she’d just discovered hated and wanted nothing to do with her. I didn’t like it.

Finding one’s mate should be a time of celebration, but I’d ruined it with my bitterness. As the haze of starvation cleared from my mind and I could better rationalize, I was coming to understand that this female wasn't my enemy. She was a worthy mate to anyone, including myself.

Another grunt echoed in the cave as Sasha sat up groggily. Though her sleep had been fitful, and there was a strain around her eyes, she was still utterly beautiful. I abhorred the way she resembled her father, and I wondered if I would ever get past that. I realized how unfair it was to pile the sins of the father onto the daughter, but thousands of years couldn’t be erased in a day. I feared that I would hurt her more in the future, however unintentional it may be.

I looked away from her as she stretched, her breasts pressing against the fabric of her top enticingly. My cock thickened in my torn trousers as if I hadn’t spilled my seed three more times in the night as she slept. Each time I gave in and stroked myself to completion it was to the memory of the way she arched her body as she came, the little sounds that escaped her plump lips even though she desperately tried to bite them back, and the way her eyes glowed a brilliant yellow as she fed from me. If anyone would have told me that I could find yellow eyes sexy, I would have ripped their tongue out through their arsehole.

“What’s this?”

Without looking back at her, I rose to my feet, taking the opportunity to stretch my wings, feeling the tightness in them as the tendons moved and flexed after being held so close to my body for such a long time. The bones had healed, just like my ribs had, but I still wasn’t at full strength yet.

“I went foraging this morning. I thought you could use some food. The beast you killed was good, but it’s no longer fit for consumption after being out all night.”

I heard her pick up the fruit as I looked down at my hand, which had already healed from the numerous cuts the vine had caused as I stole from it. “Is it safe?” she asked hesitantly. I didn’t fault her for the question. Not much in the Underworld was safe. But the fruit from the kedgie vine was not only safe to eat, it was also nutritious and tasted quite good.

I called over my shoulder as I headed into the pool room for a drink and to cool my heated skin. “Don’t worry, princess. If I wanted you dead, I could have taken your head while you were sleeping.”

I chuckled to myself as I heard her grumble under her breath something along the lines of keeping her alive long enough to reach my brothers before she moaned softly. I could imagine her delight as the sweet juices from the kedgie burst over her tastebuds.

I knelt beside the pool and cupped my hands, filling them before tossing the chilled water over my heated skin. A soft, high pitched trilling sound came from beside me and I glanced over to see the small furry rodent that Sasha named Max sitting next to me.

“Thirsty?” I cupped my hands again and offered the makeshift bowl to the little beast. “Bite me, and I drown you, got it?” He eagerly hopped closer, dipped his head, and lapped at the water for several seconds. When he was done, I rinsed my hands in the pool before taking another helping of water for myself.

When I was done drinking, I sat back, one hand braced on the floor behind me and the other resting on one raised knee. “You like our little princess, don’t you?” He cocked his head at me and gave that same soft trilling noise. “You see yourself as her protector, right. Make sure she’s safe, and I’ll make sure you live.” I reached out and scratched behind one of his ridiculously large round ears. “Do we have a deal?” The rodent nuzzled into my palm with a soft trill. Then he clamped his teeth down on my thumb.

“Why, you little…” I pulled my hand away and shook the sting from it as I glared at him. I studied my hand to see that he hadn’t broken the skin. “Okay, okay. I get it. I promise I won’t hurt her either.” I stood to my feet and adjusted the trousers that were barely hanging on after the way I ripped at the ties last night in my desperation to free my cock. “Just saying, furball. That’s my mate in there. She needs to be our priority.”

Max hopped to his feet with a sharp trill and ran towards the other room. I followed at a much slower pace. I got the feeling that the little fur ball and I had just come to an agreement. I also thought that my life might have just been threatened by a tiny rodent.

When I stepped back into the room it was to see Sasha bent over sliding on one of the long black boots she had as foot wear.

“Going somewhere, princess?”

When she stood back up, I lost the breath from my lungs. While I had been having a serious discussion with her vicious pet, she’d taken her hair down from the braid it had been confined in. Deep red hair, the color of freshly spilled blood, flowed over her shoulders and breasts down to her waist. It was wavy from the braid, but I had a feeling it would be very straight naturally.

I curled my claws into my palms to keep from reaching out and running them through all that lovely, thick hair. I ached to see if it felt as soft as it looked.

“We probably shouldn’t stay any longer than is necessary. The guards from the dungeon have undoubtedly found you missing by now. The longer we stay, the more in danger you become of being found.”

I could no longer resist the temptation and drew one finger through the hair at her temple. I ignored her gasp as I watched as my claw slide down until I reached her waist, and then I spread my hand wide before gripping her and yanking her into my hard chest. “And what about you, Sasha? What will they do to you?”

She blinked up at me, her lips parted, softly panting, her pupils wide as she took me in. “I’m more worried about you,” she said softly. “You can’t go back there. Not after everything you have already lived through.” She hesitantly placed one open palm on my bare chest over my rapidly beating heart. “Your brothers don’t know it yet, but they are waiting for you on the other side of that portal. That’s my priority.”

I brought our faces closer together, close enough to feel the warmth of her lips and taste the kedgie fruit on her breath. “Tell me, mate. Tell me what your father will do to you if he catches you?”

“I don’t think—” She started to turn, her hand sliding away, and I wanted to howl at the loss of her heat.

“Tell me! What will he do to you?” I snarled, yanking her back into me so her breasts were flattened against my chest, and my hard cock was pressed against her stomach.

“He’ll kill me! Okay? He’d never forgive a traitor. I already tried to take my sister away long ago. Taking you? I’m as good as dead if he gets his hands on me.”

I involuntarily flexed my claws, needing to rip into his throat and spill his blood at the mere thought of him hurting my mate. She didn’t make a sound as I pricked her delicate skin.

“But if you get to survive and make it to your brothers? It will be worth it.”

At her words, the world around me burst into a multitude of reds. A feral growl erupted from my chest, and without further thought, I slammed my lips to hers, drinking in her surprised gasp.

What I did to her mouth could only be described as a devouring. There was no finesse in the way I kissed her, only need. Need to claim her as mine. Need to to prove to the High General that she was no longer his. The bastard may have owned her once, but she was mine now. Even before I was ready to admit it, she was mine. I was already going to destroy him, but now I needed to make it painful and slow.

I tore my mouth away from hers and took a step back. We were both panting heavily, our chests heaving with barely suppressed emotion and the need for oxygen.

“Know this, mate. You will be by my side when I see my brothers. You are never to speak of your death again.” I leaned in so I could capture her gaze and so she could clearly read the intent in mine. “In no lifetime will your death ever be worth it. ”