Queen Takes Queen Read online

  Until Shara Isador pulled me to her side in Kansas City, Missouri only days ago. Would I have killed her on Wu Tien’s command? Would I have been able to look down at her sleeping beside Rik and slit her throat?

  My gift would have made it possible. Rik would never have seen me. While his queen died in his arms. Our queen. Mine.

  Her eyes swam with tears. “How many did you kill that night?”

  Ice spread through my veins, freezing my marrow, slowing my heartbeat to a ponderous, uneven gait. I couldn’t have moved a finger to defend her or myself. “Five. The target was Wu Tien’s eight-year-old niece who would be queen one day.”

  “How old were you?”

  “Twelve.”

  Her eyes flared, her emotions slicing me like the knight’s deadly blades. Surprise. Horror. Shock. “You killed at twelve years old?”

  “No. I killed much earlier. But I was Blooded that very night. All the Wu queens took Blood early in life. It made us easier to train how best to serve.”

  “My father was killed when I was six years old. If I had the knowledge of how to kill the monsters, I would have slaughtered them all that night. Without hesitation.”

  Ice spread through my body, brutal cold that cut through my lungs and encased my heart. It didn’t matter. I didn’t need to breathe. “If I had known of your need, I would have killed them for you. Your parents would still be here with you today.”

  “I have a need now,” she whispered against my lips.

  So cold. I couldn’t understand why her lips didn’t freeze to mine. Why she still found my blood to taste, rather than a frozen river in my veins. “Yes, my queen. Whatever it is. Yes.”

  She tightened her grip on me. Her fingers squeezed my neck, holding me close. One hand slid down my back, gripping my ass, pulling me into the searing heat of her body. Her thighs hugged me. Her mouth on mine. Heaven. The most exquisite torture.

  Her hips undulated in a slow roll against me, her fingers digging into me. Pulling me. Demanding. Something. Her lips were hard on mine. Her tongue slid into my mouth, risking my fangs. I couldn’t make them retract and I didn’t know why. I’d never bitten my queen until Shara. My fangs throbbed, extending even longer, vicious icicles that would tear her tongue and shred her lips. I would hurt her. Wound her. And not even mean it.

  Rik would have my head on a plate if I hurt one hair on her head. I would serve it to him myself.

  She groaned, a soft aching sound that cracked something inside me. She needed. My queen. Mine. I fisted my hands in the bedding and ground harder against her. If I could not give her everything she desired, I would at least give her pleasure. She drank blood from my lips, but I drank her cries and sighs and moans, muffled only by my own mouth. More beautiful music I had never heard in my life. I wanted more of it. More cries. Louder.

  The crack widened inside me, slicing me to ribbons.

  “Yes,” she groaned against my lips.

  Blood. Her blood. I didn’t know if she punctured her lip, or if I did, but I could taste her on my tongue.

  Ice shattered. Splintered. Jagged and sharp. I heard a guttural cry, a raw, ragged growl.

  That rattled my chest.

  I had made that sound. Me. The silent, invisible killer.

  “I want to hear you, Xin.” She arched beneath me, her head rolling back, her throat bared. “Please. Show me. Tell me without words how much you love me. I want to hear it.”

  My name on her lips. Her throat offered to me. With a plea.

  I thrust deep, every muscle straining on a groan that hurt my vocal chords. Again. The headboard thudded against the wall with the force of my thrusts. I tried to draw back, spare her, but she’d have none of that. She kept saying my name. Aloud. Her eyes locked on me.

  Seeing me.

  Calling me.

  My wolf snarled, my spine bulging with the effort of keeping him contained. Claws burst from my hands and I shredded the sheets. Better to destroy the bed than damage my queen. Though her nails raked down my spine and dug into my buttocks, urging me deeper, harder. Her words a whip.

  “Yes, yes, Xin, please. Show me everything. Let me in.”

  I was afraid I would hurt her—but I was the one who cracked open, broken in a million pieces.

  All the kills I’d made over centuries in Wu Tien’s name. Enough blood to fill an ocean. Wasted. Lives destroyed. Entire bloodlines lost forever.

  So much regret.

  When I had become a killer who lived only for the hunt?

  Emptiness. A million lifetimes lived alone—while surrounded by people. Unseen, unheard, untouched, unneeded. Until my queen pointed at me, and her alpha whispered a name in my head. A target. My prey to hunt.

  Never my queen herself though. She’d never touched my bond, my mind, my body. Let alone my heart.

  No wonder I lived for the kill. It was all I’d ever had.

  I tried to find the boy I’d been. The boy who’d fled to the forgotten temple on the mountain. But that child had died long ago. I’d never known my mother or father. As customary in those times, I’d been taken from my home at age three and raised among the other candidates. I’d shown early promise. They’d seen the wolf in me. The predator who would kill and kill and kill.

  Shara tightened around me, her pleasure rising in our bond. Shining like beacon in the dead of night, a star bright enough to dim the noonday sun. I didn’t want her to see the centuries stretched out like a graveyard with all the tombstones I’d wrought with my own hands.

  How could she love a killer like me? She would turn away. Exile me. I deserved it.

  She sank her fangs into my chest and I roared with release. I jammed my dick deep into her. So deep. I wanted to disappear. Into her. Forever. Grunting with effort, I rutted on her like a mad beast, unable to stop coming. I sank my fangs into her throat and drank her pleasure directly from her vein.

  In a vast, ancient forest, her scent floated through hoary, twisted trees heavy with vines and moss. A hint of laughter on the breeze. A challenge. My wolf darted after her into the shadows. Silent. Deadly. Hungry.

  But cold no more.

  RIK

  Evidently not even alphas were above jealousy.

  Forehead braced against the bathroom door, I fought my need to be with my queen. She needed this time alone with Xin. With each of us.

  She needed. I provided.

  Even if that meant I was not the one holding her now.

  I’d never seen a queen like Shara before. She loved each of us. Really and truly loved us. She wanted to touch us. All of us. She wanted to sleep with us, make love, sleep again, feed, dance, party, eat, laugh, everything. I loved it. I loved her. I loved them.

  All of them. I wanted their happiness as much as I wanted hers. But I’d sworn my life to fulfilling her every need. Not theirs.

  It would be easier if she didn’t love us each so much. Easier for me. Not easier for her.

  Xin was right. The more I loved her, and the more she loved me, the more I wanted to be alone with her, too. A selfish need, and something I must guard against to ensure my queen received everything she wanted and more. My jealousy would only hurt her, and it would be too easy as alpha to drive them away from her.

  I’d seen it happen many times before. Alphas had to be close to their queen at all times, yes. Alphas gained the most power from their queen; they fed her the most, and fed from her the most. They needed to be the strongest because they were the last line in her defense.

  But that power easily went to an alpha’s head. Power to choose who to send on guard duty. Who to allow into her bed. Who would be allowed to feed her first. Ultimately the queen had final say, absolutely. But it was an alpha’s job to keep her Blood in line and deal with any discipline and hierarchy issues without drawing it to her attention.

  The larger her court, the easier it would be for these kinds of abuses. And it was abuse in my mind, a huge abuse of power. My queen would be stronger because all of her Blood were strong. Because w
e all fed from her nearly daily. We all shared in her pleasure and her magic openly. She was well-fed and terrifyingly strong.

  Which made us all a nightmare for anyone who even thought to harm her.

  I would ensure each of her Blood had time with her alone, as Xin did now. They needed it. She needed it.

  I lifted my head, sensing the change in her bond. The subtle tug on me that signaled she wanted me with her. I opened the door and paused at the side of the bed.

  Xin lay sprawled on top of her, still panting, unable to move. She’d used him well and hard, breaking through the reserve that had been ingrained in him from his former queen at such an early age. Not an easy feat.

  But my queen was up for any challenge.

  I hid nothing from her. She felt how hard it had been for me to stay in the bathroom while she fucked another man. Even a man I’d shared her bed with several times before. It was different when it was just him. When I had to stand there and feel her pleasure in our bond and know I had no part in giving it to her.

  She met my gaze and held out her hand. :Thank you,: she said softly, touching only my bond. :You’re an incredible alpha, and I love you more every day.:

  I settled into bed beside her and lifted her hand to my mouth, pressing a kiss to her palm. :You’re an incredible queen, and I love you more than life itself.:

  “Sorry.” Xin lifted his head a little, sweat dripping down his forehead, but quickly dropped his face back against Shara’s throat. “Alpha.”

  I draped an arm over his back and pulled them both into my embrace. “No need for apologies, Xin. You gave our queen exactly what she asked for. You’ll never hear me discipline you for that.”

  “You may change your mind,” he panted. “If I’m no use to you now.”

  “What are you talking about?” Shara’s voice sharpened. “Why would you no longer be of use to us?”

  Xin shifted off to her other side, but didn’t withdraw completely. “No offense, my queen, but you broke me.”

  He didn’t mean to upset or hurt her, but I felt the surge of heartache in her bond and I very nearly thumped him on the head for it. “I give you a boon and you’re a dickhead about it.”

  He blinked, which in Daire or Mehen would have been a very vocal, very loud retort. “I am?”

  “You are,” I said agreeably.

  “I’ve only ever been a killer. A silent, deadly, and most importantly, emotionless, blade.” He ducked his head. “I don’t know that I can assassinate your targets now, my queen, if I can’t find that stillness again.”

  She cupped his chin and tugged his face back up to hers. Leaning in close, she glared at him, her bond a fierce, white-hot blade of ice. “I would rather have you here, looking at me, talking to me, letting me see into your heart, than ever have an assassin. Even if you never kill again.”

  “What if your goddess meant for you to send me after Marne Ceresa or Keisha Skye?” Xin asked softly, regret clogging his words. “And now, I’m unable to kill them? What then, my queen?”

  She sat up, tossing her hair back off her shoulders. Her face hard as marble, her neck long and graceful, breasts jutting proudly, blood trickling down her throat.

  My queen. My goddess. “Then I’ll fucking kill them myself.”

  2

  Shara

  I was starting to realize why vampires were always portrayed as nocturnal. I was too busy feeding and fucking all night to see the sun before noon. Okay, two in the afternoon. As we walked up to the main house, I could only hope Gina and Winston didn’t tease me about the lateness of the hour. If he’d made breakfast early this morning, he’d definitely be wondering where the hell we were.

  Which made me wonder how we were going to handle the workers who’d be wanting to enter my nest. If they were going to be dependent on me to wake up and let people in…

  “Anyone carrying your blood can make the decision.” Guillaume, my Templar knight, walked on my left. “One of us on guard will always be near the gate during the daylight hours so we can examine anyone wanting entry. Frank can allow people through too, but he may not carry enough of your blood to sense anything amiss. He’s an excellent security guard for a human, though, and he does have good instincts.”

  “But how do you actually allow them to pass?”

  “The easiest way is to touch them.” Guillaume dropped his hand on Nevarre’s shoulder beside him. “A handshake, a friendly touch. We’ll open our senses up, using our power that you’ve magnified, and if they’re fine, we let them pass while touching them. Once they’re through, they can come and go at will, and we’ll all feel it as they pass the circle. Though if you’re sleeping soundly, you shouldn’t be bothered. Over time, you can tone down that sense too because security of the nest lies with us.”

  Rik walked on my right, closely enough I could feel the heat that radiated off his big body. “If you look at the tapestry in your mind, you’ll see the nest’s boundaries and exactly who is within. You’ll know their purpose because they’ve touched your blood circle.”

  We stepped onto the back patio, covered with a trellis of old, dead vines. A slider door would let us directly into the kitchen, assuming the door wasn’t locked.

  Rik made a low rumbly sound that made my spine strum with pleasure. “The doors to your house will never be locked to you, my queen.”

  I was so used to lining the walls with salt, making sure my room had no windows or easy access points, and all my doors were always locked by dusk. Unlocked doors and huge windows were completely foreign concepts to me. “But we’ll have people in and out all the time. Do you really think it’s safe to leave all the doors unlocked?”

  Guillaume snorted. “Do you really think anyone would dare break in or steal something when a rock troll, warcat, wolf, hell horse, winged snake, and giant bird are guarding your property?”

  “That would be raven, Sir Guillaume,” Nevarre said. “And the first person who makes an Edgar Allen Poe joke will have the great pleasure of competing against me in a caber toss.”

  “Good thing Daire isn’t here to hear this challenge.” Rik laughed. “I can hear his crow jokes already.”

  At the mention of Daire’s name, I automatically felt for his location. He and Mehen were on guard duty together. An odd pairing, but Rik must have had his reasons. Probably a deliberate attempt to torture Mehen a bit more with Daire’s antics. Of all my blood, he was the most likely to play a prank or make an inappropriate comment that would probably set the oldest, and yeah, most touchy, Blood’s teeth on edge. Xin was further away, alone. I had a moment to worry about him, especially after his comments about being broken. But I felt his wolf slipping through the trees and his bond was full of a wolf’s joy as he tracked his prey through the trees. He didn’t smell an intruder, but his wolf knew his nature. I wasn’t worried in the slightest that he wouldn’t be able to kill if he needed to protect me. As for assassinating anyone…

  That wasn’t really my style anyway.

  My Blood stood on either side of the door, watching me. Waiting for me to test the door and verify it really was unlocked. That it would always be unlocked for me. Even this obscure side door that wasn’t visible from the main drive.

  I laid my fingers on the slider’s pull and gave it a tug. Yeah, it opened, though I will admit to holding my breath. I pushed the door open wider for the guys and stepped inside the kitchen. “Hello?”

  Smiling, Winston hopped up from the round table in the corner where he’d been sitting with Gina. “Your Majesty, good day. What may I get you?”

  Gina stood too. “I’ve got some interesting television footage to show you.”

  I groaned. “We made the news again? I’ll have whatever you’re having, and please, call me Shara.”

  There were only four chairs at the small table, but the guys were too busy hitting the food laid out on the counter like a buffet to care where they sat. Rik sat me down by Gina and kissed the top of my head. “Trust me to pick something for you?”

/>   I rolled my eyes. “Duh.”

  Gina turned her laptop toward me and hit the play button. The headline read “Christmas Miracle—or Apocalypse?” The video itself was shaky enough to tell me it was recorded by an amateur. A man spoke in Spanish, too rapidly for me to make out any of the words, but a translation ran along the bottom of the screen.

  “Do you see where it went? A black shape. Huge. It didn’t look like an airplane. I think it was alive.”

  Breathing hard, he stopped, the camera panning the night sky. Light blazed to the right, and the camera jerked in that direction. A huge pillar of silvery bright light drove down toward the ground like a sci-fi movie tractor beam. Too bright to make out much, but there was definitely something inside the light.

  Something that moved.

  “That’s what we looked like?”

  “No,” Rik said in his low rumble. “That’s what you looked like.”

  The person filming was far enough away that it was hard to see details. Shapes definitely moved on the ground. Large shapes. A horse leaped up like it was soaring over a brutally high fence, the only clear image on the screen.

  Guillaume’s hell horse. Fuck, he was massive. Neck thick, shoulders broad, huge, powerful haunches. Definitely a warhorse built to carry a knight and all his armor into battle. All four hooves left the ground, his head straining high into the air, well back-lit by the brutal blaze. He’d tried to catch me before I could hit the ground, moments before I was able to shift and stop our fall.

  Gina paused the video. “There aren’t a lot of horse shifters.”

  I knew where this was going. I sighed. “So every other queen knows that Guillaume de Payne was protecting a queen. Someone called him to be Blood, and it wasn’t Marne Ceresa.”

  “A fucking powerful queen,” he said over his shoulder as he stacked bacon on top of pancakes. “That kind of glow isn’t something that every queen can do. They’ll know you were feeding on something big, powerful, and winged, in the middle of Venezuela.”

  “And though Mayte Zaniyah has purposely kept herself off the Triune’s radar, it wouldn’t surprise me if consiliari were calling her first thing this morning to find out if she knew who had been so near her territory. I’m glad we placed the call to her first, but I wish we could have taken her up on her offer before the news ran.”