Chapter 29

‘You let her go.'

‘You were using blood magic too much. I had to, to save your soul.'

My eyes narrow as I lean closer. ‘What soul?' I hiss. ‘You will find no soul here.'

He surveys me, panting and unsure. ‘Witch,' he says. ‘With a thirst for blood.' His eyebrows raise. ‘You shouldn't exist. It's not possible.' He steps closer. I have to tilt my head back to keep him in my sight. I refuse to step back. ‘You're like us. Something else, trapped in a vessel.'

I step closer.

‘If I were you,' I warn. 'I would run. I would hide. And I would pray I don't find you.'

‘I'm not running from you, Pixie.' He steps closer still. ‘Never.'

My fingers wrap around his throat, and I feel his bones crunch beneath my grip. Yet, he doesn't fight me off. He doesn't struggle.

‘You resurrected the Blood Queen. And then you stop me from killing her.'

‘You were losing yourself. Blood magic is dark. Too much and-'

‘You took me from my coven. You all took your turn and fucked me. You used me. Betrayed me.'

‘Yes,' he replies.

‘I'm going to kill you.'

He holds his hand up as Dorian and Archie approach. They stop.

‘When you were inside me, when you kissed me, you knew I would end up in that circle, didn't you?'

‘Yes.'

‘When she said my death and the destruction of the bloodline that cursed you would free you, you were going to kill me.'

‘No.'

‘Liar.'

‘Usually, but not this time.'

‘Let him go, Poppet,' Dorian warns, his low voice a deep rumble. My mark burns.

I growl like a raging animal, left with no choice but to relinquish my grip.

Shaw doesn't stagger back but instead closes the gap between us. His angry breath lands on my skin as I simply smile.

‘Happy?' I ask. ‘Your lover is back just as you wanted. My mother, who slit my throat as a baby and buried me alive. Go find her. The love you long for. The one for which I was such a poor replacement.' I let out a sharp breath as the pain of those words cut deep. ‘You know you are destined.' I spit the words he said to her. But he doesn't flinch.

‘I was trying to save your life. I would have said anything.'

‘You are so at home in your lies, you even believe the ones you tell yourself.' I spit in his face. ‘That's all you will ever get from me. Move aside before I-'

His hand wraps around my throat, and his lips curl as he wipes his face. His fingers slide into his mouth, and he slowly sucks them clean.

‘My dark little plaything. You're not going anywhere.'

As his grip tightens, flashbacks of the rope around my neck strike me hard. Hanging for hours. Swaying. Choking. Dying in agony.

All I am becomes panic.

He sees and lets me go, moving his hand to my cheek instead.

‘We were going to kill Neve and her sisters as soon as the curse was lifted. I was not expecting the Unseelie to come. And I was not going to kill you when she told me how to end the curse.'

‘You thought about it.'

‘No,' he grinds back, his teeth clenched. ‘I did not. But if you carry on being a fucking brat, I may reconsider.'

His eyes travel down to my mouth. His thumb moves to my lip, revealing the fangs beyond.

‘Beautiful,' he whispers.

He presses the pad of his thumb into one, puncturing his skin. The warmth of his blood drips onto my tongue and hits me like a bolt of lightning.

The taste. The power. It courses through me and hits my core, slamming into me and fuelling a desperate need that suddenly throbs between my legs.

‘Very fucking beautiful,' he breathes, watching my reaction. Sensing it.

I slam my hand into his chest, and he flies backwards through the air before skidding in the dirt. Shaw quickly rights himself, returning to his feet with grace and skill. And a dark smile that promises trouble.

I realise very quickly that they have surrounded me. Dorian, Archie back in his male form, and Shaw. They're poised for a fight. Tense and ready.

But so am I. But before I can use my magic, orange smoke forms before me.

The banshee sneers as her hand clamps down on my shoulder.

‘For the blood queen.'

A hot, tearing sensation rips through my body. With a laugh, she twists the sword she's driven through me.

Hands grip her head, and there's a snap. She falls, her head facing completely the wrong way, and explodes into orange smoke.

‘Stay still,' Shaw orders, pulling the sword free and tossing it aside.

His hand lands on my stomach as blood pours through his fingers. He pulls me in, guiding my face to his neck.

‘Drink,' he orders.

But I shake my head.

‘I said drink! It's not healing!'

I look up at him, filled with hateful determination.

‘No,' I reply. ‘You can watch me die. Again.'

My mark burns hot as his hands twist in my hair.

‘Bite my neck and drink my fucking blood until you are healed.'

I sink my teeth into his neck, biting hard and deep, drawing his blood into my mouth.

‘Shit…' he breathes, holding me closer.

I push him until his back hits a tree so hard I feel it splinter around us.

‘That's it,' he whispers darkly, his fingers twisting in my hair. ‘Drink me in.'

His blood has me moaning in sheer pleasure. In euphoria. The hole in my stomach stitches back together, and I run my tongue up his neck, lapping up the blood dripping down his neck. His wound closes in an instant.

His dark gaze meets mine. His chest rises and falls with each one of his breaths. Sweat shimmers on his skin, and his scent is intoxicating.

‘I fucking hate you,' I whisper.

‘Oh. I fucking know.'

His lips crash into mine, and he spins us before slamming my back into the tree.

He pulls my underwear to the side, frees his cock, and drives himself into me with brute force. The pain feels as though I'm about to be ripped in two, but it quickly gets lost to the animalistic pleasure my body craves at tasting him. He slams into me far harder than he ever did before. Whatever I am now has changed me. I'm stronger than I was.

Darker.

Hungrier.

His fingers knot in my hair, and he pulls my head back. I gasp, lost in the pleasure his blood filled me with. Watching me, he fucks me mercilessly, grunting in force as he screws his blood whore against the trees she loves so much.

He slams my lips to him, his tongue lapping up the blood dripping from my mouth as he moans in pleasure. In a swift move, he tosses me away. I land on my feet, facing Dorian and Archie. Their eyes are narrowed. All three of them encircle me. Every inch, a predator. Hungry. Violent. Fuelled with rage and adrenaline from the fight. They close the space between us, trapping me. I watch, readying for attack. For the fight that I feel is coming between us. One to kill us all.

The blood witch and her witch-killing lovers.

Shaw grips the back of my dress and tears it right down the centre before taking the back of my neck and pushing me into Dorian.

Dorian pins me to his body and drags me to the ground.

As soon as his back hits the soil, he bites me. From behind, Shaw falls on top of us. With a pleasurable hiss, his cock buries inside me once more, and he fucks me from behind as I lie pinned to Dorian.

‘Give her to me,' Dorian demands, freeing his length. Shaw lifts me by my hips, pulls out, and lowers me onto him instead.

Dorian's hand slides behind my ear, his lips parted and eyes hooded as I slide onto him.

‘Fuck me, Ashe.'

I rest my hand on his throat. ‘Beg.'

He laughs low, gripping my hips hard.

‘Ride me. Right fucking now. I beg you.'

I move, rocking my hips and relishing in how his muscles tense. His already perfectly sculpted form is rigid as he moves in time with me.

A dark fucking god trapped in a perfect skin suit. His dark eyes open and bore into my equally dark soul.

Shaw stands and twists my hair in his hand.

‘Wrap your pretty lips around my cock and get it wet,' he orders, guiding my mouth onto his waiting length. He fucks my mouth, forcing himself down my throat. He's there a moment before he hands my open mouth to Archie to fill. Without hesitation, he grabs my hair roughly and obliges.

Shaw falls to his knees behind me, presses his palm down on my lower back, and rests his wet cock at my arse.

My eyes widen when I realise why he needed to be wet. My pussy is soaking, dripping with arousal and want.

But he has no intention of fucking me there.

‘If you need me to slow down, you say so. You want me to stop, fucking scream it. You hear me, Pixie?'

‘She can't speak right now,' Archie laughs, driving his cock down my throat. ‘Her pretty mouth is a tad busy.'

Shaw grabs my hair and pulls me off Archie.

‘Do you hear me, Pixie?'

‘Yes,' I pant.

‘Breathe. And relax. Because I'm fucking you up your sweet arse. And you're going to take it. Yes?'

I nod.

‘I need to hear you say it.'

‘Yes. Yes!'

I scream as he eases himself into me, unwilling to waste another second. He fills me up slowly and with a patience I never thought him capable of.

‘It's not going to fit,' I groan, struggling to take him when Dorian is already inside me.

‘Oh. We'll fit,' Shaw insists, another inch filling me up. I cry out, the fullness so overpowering. ‘Just wait until we're all buried between your legs,' he hisses. ‘That will give you something to truly scream about.'

‘I can't,' I whisper, forcing myself to relax my clenching muscles.

‘Not tonight, Pixie. But one day. Don't you worry.' With a heavy exhale, I feel his chest meet my back. He's in as far as he can go, right to the hilt. ‘Good girl,' he praises, burying his face in my hair. ‘I told you that you could take us. Now stay still.'

Archie runs his shaft back up my tongue, watching me with hunger and such intense passion as he fucks my mouth.

‘No biting, Pix,' he grins. ‘You be very careful with those new teeth of yours.'

Dorian and Shaw plough into me. It's sensation overload. Pain and pleasure. Fear and excitement. Their hands caress every curve. Every inch. They pinch and grip. Kiss and nip. No part of me is left unattended, and I'm screaming around Archie's cock in a matter of minutes. My fingers dig into the dirt as the orgasm tears through me, ripping me apart in the most heavenly way. The trees splinter around us, cracking from the roots up as my earth magic ripples from my fingertips.

Archie grips my head with both hands. His breathing gets rougher, and with a ferocious grunt, he spills into me straight down my throat. I swallow, devouring what he offers, before he leans down and kisses me hard, uncaring of what was in my mouth not seconds ago.

The guys speed up, seeking their own release. With a delicious grin, Archie reaches down and works my clit, circling it in rhythm with the others.

‘Give us another, Pixie,' he urges, watching with a thrill as his two friends rut into me with increasing need.

‘I know what she needs,' Dorian says.

He wraps his hand around my throat and squeezes.

Normally, this would push me over the edge. Not this time. My orgasm fades, replaced instead with panic.

I fucking flood with it as images flash through my mind.

I'm hanging. I'm choking back on the gallows, with crows waiting for me to stop struggling so they can peck out my eyes. It's not my lover's hand around my throat but a rope. The creaking of it echoes in my ears.

Swing. Swing. Swing.

Dorian yells for everyone to stop, sensing my emotions through the link he created and shoving them away.

I scream as they withdraw, and everything around me explodes in a mess of dirt and splintering trees.