Queen Takes Rook (Their Vampire Queen Book 4) Read online

  Was this how Rik felt when he touched me?

  "Like a ravenous beast?" He moved closer, mindful of my wishes that he not touch the other woman. He leaned down and pressed soft kisses along my hip. "Yes. Every fucking time."

  I shifted forward and flattened out on my stomach, giving Rik access to my legs and ass. He kneaded the muscles of my thighs and licked the hollow behind my knees.

  Mayte tangled her fingers in my hair, pulling my head up a moment so I looked into her eyes. "I'm supposed to be pleasuring you, Shara."

  "You are."

  "But—”

  "Is it alright if I touch you? If I taste you?"

  She quivered beneath me, her eyes darkening. "Are you aware of what tasting a queen's desire does to a Blood?"

  "Yes. What does it do to us?"

  One shoulder lifted slightly, a wry, yet deliciously wicked, smile curving her lips. "I don't know. Would you like to find out?"

  "Yes. Very much. And I'd like to feed from your thigh too. But I should warn you that I often feed so deeply that my Blood pass out. I'll try to hold back—”

  "No," she broke in, her eyes flashing with emotion. "Don't hold back. Not for me. I want you all, Shara. I want to feed you as much as I can. I've given you so little in this arrangement. Surely you realize that you could have taken everything I have. Everything that I love. You could have even taken my daughter or killed her outright as a threat to Isador."

  Her words thickened, as if tears clogged her throat, which made my eyes fill with tears too. "I would never hurt anyone like that, let alone you and your daughter."

  "You could have, but you didn't. You wouldn't. Please, take me, any way you want. And if I pass out, or, goddess forbid, I die, so be it. Drain me as you wish. I make myself a willing sacrifice to Shara of House Isador."

  Power swelled inside me, turning my desire even darker. Her words triggered something in me. Maybe it was the location, or the lineage of her house, but my predator side liked the idea of this sweet-smelling, beautiful woman stretched out on an altar for me to devour at will. :Don't let me hurt her,: I told Rik in the bond.

  He rubbed his cheek against my calf, a deliberate rasp to help settle me. :As you wish, my queen, so it shall be.:

  His words twisted inside me, his bond leaking a darker meaning. He would support me wholeheartedly if I decided to decimate her entire house after the mess with the geas. He didn't care about her in the slightest. But he did care about me, and he knew how badly I'd feel later if I actually hurt her.

  I slid lower on her body, rubbing my mouth against her skin as I went. I scratched her with my fangs, fighting down the urge to feed. I'd wait. I'd wait until her cries hurt my ears, and her blood simmered with so much pleasure that her body couldn't contain it. Then I'd feast. But the silken heat of her skin against my mouth was a torment. I could smell her blood, rich and sweet like warm caramel, just below the delicate surface of her skin. Sweat beaded on my forehead, and my fangs throbbed in beat with my heart.

  I kissed her stomach from one pelvic bone to the other. The skin in the crook of her thigh was paper thin, making me tremble with hunger. But I only licked the crease and breathed in her musk. She wanted me. She wanted this.

  This was what Rik felt when he leaned over my pussy.

  :Not even close.: His whisper was like distant thunder in my head, reverberating through my skull. He stroked his big palm up the back of my thighs and squeezed my ass. :You smell like the finest, rarest perfume in all the world. I'd do anything to breathe your musk. To taste your desire. There's nothing better in this world, except your blood. Even better if I can mix the two into a heady concoction that makes me doubt my ability to retain control.:

  Yes, that was exactly what I was feeling now. That razor-wire dance of control. One misstep and I'd sink my fangs in her thigh and be done. Or I'd come myself. I could, easily, I realized. Desire hummed in me. If Rik slid his fingers between my thighs, he'd find me wet and swollen, aching for his cock.

  Exactly like Mayte. Only she wasn't aching for him. She was aching for my mouth. My fingers. My tongue. My teeth.

  She ached for me.

  2

  Shara

  I pressed a soft kiss to her pussy, letting the sensations pour over me. The crinkle of pubic hair. The scent of her desire, earthy, musky, and intoxicating. It made me connect to my own desire in a new way. My scent rose when I was turned on. My pussy swelled like this, pumped with blood, aching for touch. I tasted like this when Daire nuzzled deep between my thighs. A bit salty, but sweet, too. Very much like a peach, soft and luscious and perfect. Her desire coated my lips and tongue and sent a buzzing spark through my head.

  The fine hairs on my arms tingled as my power rose. When I’d tasted Mehen’s semen, my desire had fired to lust in a heartbeat, the kind of desire that needed to be filled, stroked, pounded, as hard and long as possible. I didn’t feel that way with Mayte’s cream hitting my system.

  No. Instead, I wanted to seize a big mouthful of her tender thigh in my jaws and let out a rumbling growl.

  Her hips undulated in a slow roll that made my blood simmer in my veins. I slid my index finger inside her, feeling the hot clench of her inner muscles. She moaned and pushed harder against me. Her fingers tangled in my hair. Her mind opened to me. In the bond, we floated in the secret grotto with a huge, full moon shining down on us.

  I licked every crevice, and twisted my fingers deeper into her, stroking inside her. Seeking her pleasure. I wanted to hear her cries, taste the fresh flood of her desire on my tongue.

  :Let him taste you as you taste me,: she whispered in my head.

  Rik heard her words, whether she intended him to or not. He kept up the steady, slow stroking on my calves and knees, his mouth still on my thigh, but I felt his eagerness in the bond. I shifted up on my knees and that was all the invitation he needed.

  He pressed nibbling bites to the sensitive line where my thigh met my buttock, following that curve to my hot, aching core. He flattened his tongue against me in a long, delicious swipe that made me groan against Mayte. He feasted on me, as I feasted on her. I stroked her, sliding deeper into her through our bond. A dark shadow that wound inside her, my power sparking against hers like a lightning storm.

  She came against my mouth, and I could feel her pleasure thudding against my tongue, her muscles tight on my fingers. Her power flooded me with a lush, dark jungle, the scent of rich loam bursting with life. In the vision, she walked toward me with sprouts breaking free of the soil in her footsteps, vines winding up her body, and flowers blooming in the night.

  Rik pushed his tongue deep inside me as I came, drinking me down on a low rumble of hunger. I threw my head back, letting the climax roll through me, his big hands on my hips holding me steady. Then I struck, hard, sinking my fangs into her inner thigh. Her blood exploded on my tongue, rich and hot, mixing with the sweet, honeyed taste of her desire. My spine bowed, and I quivered in Rik’s grasp.

  Moving closer, he pushed deep inside me in one smooth thrust. Filled by my alpha while my pretty queen fed me—it was almost more than I could bear. I came again, a sudden, hard climax that winched my muscles so tightly that Rik let out a soft grunt of pleasure. He didn’t even have to move in me. He just filled me. Hard. Steady.

  And then I came again. I couldn’t stop coming.

  Gasping, I raised my head, hoping that if I stopped tasting her blood that the pleasure would crest and ebb a bit. Her head lolled on the pillow, her eyes heavy and dazed, but I hadn’t taken enough to make her pass out. Rik flexed against me, nudging a little deeper, and my back bowed, my head falling back helplessly like Mayte’s.

  Something surged inside me. Something large.

  Bones cracked inside me.

  Rik paused, his hands tensing on my hips. “Shara…”

  But I didn’t want him to stop. I pushed back onto my knees, leaning into him, and he automatically wrapped his arms around me.

  Giving me something to bite.
/>   I sank my fangs into his forearm, and he heaved up into me, lifting my knees off the mattress. Climax shook his big body as he emptied into me. I could feel the hot flood of his semen filling me, dripping down my thighs. A growl trickled through my lips.

  I don’t think I’d ever made that sound before. It almost sounded…

  Mayte stretched out her hand toward me, calling something inside of me.

  Two eyes glowed like lamps in the darkness of my mind.

  She cupped my head in both her hands and pulled me down toward her, her thighs slipping around me. “Yes, my beast. Come to my call. Let me give our queen this gift.”

  Power surged upward like a geyser, pulling the dark, massive shape through me, shifting bones out of its way. My skin slipped away to something else with fur. And feathers. And claws.

  Afraid I’d accidentally hurt her, I tried to move away, but she held my head in her hands. Her power sang to mine, and the goddess’s gifts inside me reveled in that call.

  I stared down at her and saw through new eyes. Eyes that could trace the smallest capillary beneath her skin. My heart pounded frantically. I didn’t want to kill her like I’d killed Rik, when I’d shifted into the cobra queen.

  But I didn’t feel that same detachment this time. Even though I’d been dreaming when I hurt Rik, I still remembered the horrible realization that I was hurting him… and I hadn’t cared. This form didn’t have that same emotionless detachment. I still felt very much like myself, aware and wholly present in whatever creature I’d shifted into. Something large. The bed frame creaked beneath our combined weight. I was afraid to move, for fear I’d turn it into kindling. Another bed destroyed, like the one when Rik had made love to me in that very first time.

  I laughed, but it wasn’t a human sound. It came out of my throat more like a coughing growl.

  “Oh,” Mayte whispered, her eyes shining with excitement and pleasure. “You’re beautiful, Shara. Look what our goddesses have given you.”

  Something fluttered in my peripheral vision. I turned my head and couldn’t comprehend what I saw. Wings? But I didn’t feel like a bird or even the wyvern.

  She called jaguars.

  Jaguars didn’t have wings.

  :What am I?: I asked them both.

  “I don’t think you have a specific name,” Rik said, his voice soft with reverence. “You’re a winged cat. More specifically, a black jaguar with blue-black wings.” He stroked his hand down my rear haunch, his fingers pushing deep into my fur.

  Fucking fur. Every single hair quivered with the sensation of his fingers gliding through them.

  Mayte stroked her fingers over my jaws, despite the sharp teeth I felt against my tongue. “Your head looks more lion to me, almost like the sphinx.”

  I loved that they both touched me without fear or hesitation. I didn’t think she’d be looking at me with that soft light in her eyes if I’d shifted into the cobra again. Though Rik hadn’t scrambled out of the bed when I’d unknowingly shifted into a massive snake.

  “I think you’re a hybrid,” she continued. “Lion and jaguar. Jaglioness, maybe? You have the jaguar rosettes, but the shape of your head is definitely lioness. And these wings… Some kind of eagle, maybe?”

  I couldn’t even find the words. Why now? Why this shape?

  “Do you remember the shapes on the jars in the legacy?” Rik asked. “Wasn’t one of them a cat head?”

  Yeah, I was pretty sure one had been some kind of cat, and another a cobra. If I’d had human skin, goosebumps would have raced down my arms. I’d needed the cobra to save Mehen. What would I need this shape to accomplish? More, what if I’d sent Mayte back to her own bed? Would I have still been able to shift to this winged cat form? Or was it a gift that only fully materialized when I took advantage of the chance to make love to her?

  My head ached, even if I had fuzzy ears.

  Laughing softly, Mayte leaned up enough to loop an arm around my neck and pulled me down to lie beside her. Still unafraid, stroking my fur like it was the most natural thing in the world to lie naked with a giant cat. The wings flopped awkwardly, until Rik helped me fold them up close to my sides.

  :How do I shift back?:

  “My power is yours now, Shara. Call your cat back inside to sleep. She’ll obey without question.”

  I hesitated, wondering if I could purr like Daire. How did he do it? I huffed out my breath, and it came out a growl again.

  In the bond, Daire rumbled that low, deep purr, sliding through me until he found the spot low in my throat. He touched those muscles, making them twitch crazy fast. And yeah, a purr vibrated through me.

  Oooooooh. I loved Daire’s purr without question, but it was a whole new crazy level of vibration to have my own organs humming from the inside.

  He laughed softly in our bond. :Now you know the truth about why I purr so much. It feels fucking fantastic, and I get to make you feel good too.:

  Rik fell down beside me as if I’d sucked the last drop of blood out of him, even though I’d only bitten him to make him come. He rubbed his hand up my side and caressed where my right wing sprouted from my back.

  My eyes rolled back in my head, and my purr rumbled lower.

  :Rest, my queen. Enjoy your new shape as long as you like. Transforming back will probably require a great deal of energy, at least this first time, and this trip has already taxed your reserves.:

  I rubbed my face up beneath his chin and lightly touched my tongue to his throat. Thousands of tiny details flooded my brain. His body temperature. The number of blood vessels that were so close to the surface. How many ounces of blood would spurt on my tongue if I bit him. The cat wanted to grip his throat in her jaws and purr directly against his flesh, knowing how easy it would be to kill him. He’d let me do it. Without question. The thought made me queasy, because I knew how easy it’d be to accidentally tear open that paper-thin skin.

  But my alpha didn’t even flinch. In fact, he dropped into a heavy sleep, with his vulnerable throat pressed against my wicked sharp teeth.

  3

  Shara

  When I woke again, sunlight streamed in through the windows and Mayte was gone. Rik sat beside me on the bed, already dressed. I looked down at myself, relieved to see that I’d shifted back to my normal human shape at some point. Though I couldn’t help but feel vaguely cheated. I’d slept the rest of the early morning hours away instead of enjoying another Blood or touching Mayte in another delightful three-way session. I couldn’t believe I’d slept so long and heavily. My stomach rumbled like I hadn’t eaten for days.

  Rik handed me a cup of coffee with a grin. “You needed it. There will be plenty of three-way sessions anytime you wish, my queen.” He waggled his eyebrows at me, deliberately making me snicker. “Or more, of course. We’re eager to serve in as many ways as you’d like.”

  I took a sip and sighed with bliss. I might live after all. “But not with Mayte.”

  He grunted softly. “Very true. I didn’t send her away. She woke an hour ago and scurried out of here like the house was on fire.”

  Triggered by his words, the tapestry in my mind flared to life without conscious effort, sending me a mental picture of the entire home and beyond to the land and people living nearby. Her nest, now mine. I felt her with her child, laughing on her knees beside the bathtub. Her Blood were grumpy and silent, giving me a glare as I touched them briefly. Every living soul inside the perimeter, their health, needs, fears… available to me at a moment’s notice. It was staggeringly easy to immediately assess one hundred and twenty-three people.

  Drawing back to my immediate vicinity, I couldn’t help but linger on each of my Blood. Mostly, I felt fierce determination mixed with some wicked glee and a healthy dose of possessiveness. But from the two newest Blood, Mayte’s twin brothers, I felt impatience and hunger bordering on desperation.

  I focused solely on Rik’s bond. :I think I may have made a mistake.:

  His eyes narrowed. :What concerns you, my quee
n?:

  Despite my misgivings, I didn’t want to hurt the twins’ feelings, or give my other Blood cause to act out even more in some twisted desire to protect me. I sighed softly and slid to the edge of the bed while Daire and Nevarre brought me some clothes. Another pretty dress, this one made from a white gauzy material. White made me nervous—I had the annoying habit of dribbling blood all over me if I wasn’t careful. :I said I wouldn’t take a Blood I didn’t love. I don’t love them.:

  :You felt the rightness of it, though, so my guess is that you will love them eventually. The foundation is there. You wouldn’t have even considered them if you hadn’t felt the possibility.:

  :But?:

  Rik made no noise, but I could hear the sigh in our bond. :I don’t trust them yet. I can’t forget that they did nothing to protect you from the geas, yet wanted to serve as your Blood.:

  :They made it sound as though they didn’t know Mayte hadn’t told me.:

  :It doesn’t matter.: His bond hardened, molten steel in my mind. :They wanted to be your Blood before we came here. They knew of the danger. They should have been present at your arrival to voice that concern, rather than trusting someone else, even their sister and queen, to take care of the warning. If they’re careless with your safety and assume another Blood will take care of a risk, no matter how small, then I’ll kill them.:

  He said it calmly, though every single word reverberated with intent in our bond. He didn’t exaggerate. He’d snap their necks without hesitation if they didn’t live up to his expectations.

  :Make them wait until they’ve earned the right to touch you. Remember that most Blood rarely ever touch or feed from their queen. It will do them no harm to wait until you’re fully assured of their love and dedication.:

  Dressed and caffeinated, I headed downstairs, driven by my grumbling stomach. I wasn’t sure what time it was, although it was certainly too late for any meal to be called breakfast. Luckily, Mayte’s people must have been used to late risers, because the breakfast room was well stocked with both traditional breakfast foods as well as soup and sandwiches.