Queen Takes Checkmate (Their Vampire Queen Book 5) Read online

  He seized my wrist in his teeth and gripped me firmly. Holding my gaze, he called his fangs down. I don’t know how he did it, but they slid effortlessly back into the same holes ever so slowly and controlled. Nothing like my messy bites.

  I could feel his two fangs inside me. Anchoring me to him, as thoroughly as Rik’s cock connected me to him.

  Daire nuzzled my breasts, his manner slow and lazy. He licked my areola and playfully pressed tender kisses to my skin, making my nipples pucker and ache. I turned to Llewelyn, my eyes heavy with lust. I decided to get the worst over with and deliberately pictured him with my mother. I had to know if it would bother me, before I took him too far.

  I could imagine his long, lanky body moving over her. But I didn’t know what my mother looked like. Not really.

  :She looked like you,: he replied softly. :You could almost be her twin.:

  It was easier to picture him making love to Mom. At least I knew what she looked like, though years had softened my memories. It was strange thinking of her with anyone but Dad, the man who’d helped her raise me. The part of me that had been her daughter throughout my childhood, and knew nothing of this Aima life, couldn’t begin to think of how many lovers she must have had. Her Blood, plus Dad, plus Llewellyn. Even Greyson had once been her lover, though he’d turned thrall after she’d abandoned her nest and eventually killed her.

  I waited for revulsion or regret to make me flinch away from this man, but I still wanted him, even if he’d fucked my mother a hundred times. A thousand. I wanted to soothe the torture from his body and quench his burning thirst. I wanted to taste his blood again and again, knowing that my mother was a part of him.

  And now, she could be a part of me too, beyond the blood and power she’d invested in me before her death.

  I wanted to bring him to climax inside of me and feel that connection to his past. To my past, my family, and my right as an Isador queen.

  I offered my wrist to him again, and this time, he didn’t hesitate. He jammed his fangs into me hard enough my breath caught on a groan. My hips moved, making me groan again as Rik inched up deeper inside me. My lust rose to a fevered pitch. My fangs throbbed, sliding down fast and hard.

  I sank them into the closest man I could find. Of course, it was Daire. He offered his throat so enticingly, the vulnerable curve of his shoulder as alluring and sexual as his genitals.

  He jerked with climax, his spurts hot on my belly. His purr rumbled louder, and he sank against me, completely surrendering to me.

  Goddess, I loved him. I loved the way he gave himself over to me completely without hesitation. He nestled deeper against me, sucking on my breast. I felt the sharp prick of his fangs and I arched my back, pushing my flesh more fully into his mouth.

  Taking the hint, he sank his fangs into the soft curve of my breast, my nipple in his mouth.

  Llewellyn kept his fangs in me, even though that slowed the flow of blood into his mouth. His hunger raged out of control, and I think deep down, he feared it. He was afraid that the taste of Isador blood would sweep him away into a wildfire of thirst that would endanger me.

  Even though that was exactly what I wanted.

  To compensate for what he took from me, he pressed his wrist to my mouth. I’d tasted him earlier, and he’d been tortured and starved for twenty years. I didn’t dare drain him too much, not when I still needed to restore him. As soon as I felt his pulse fluttering like a frantic moth against my lips, I released him.

  Behind me, a whisper-soft touch alerted me to the twins as they came up on either side of me. I rocked Rik deeper inside me, grinding my pelvis harder against him. My clit throbbed, so hot and swollen it felt like it’d tripled in size. “Yes.”

  Itztli sank his fangs into the left side of my throat, while Tlacel took my right. They, too, held their fangs inside me. Connecting me to them. Throbbing inside me.

  I drank Daire down until his purr changed from a deep rumble to a sleepy buzz. I pulled back and Nevarre immediately lifted him aside, so he could slide up against me and take his place.

  My mouth watered. I wanted more Celtic magic and black feathers, even though I’d tasted him earlier tonight. But first, I pulled Ezra up to me and sank my fangs in his throat. His grizzly rumbled a greeting, inviting me to walk through a snowy forest to his favorite mountain cabin high in the trees. I left him there, snoring in front of a cheery fire.

  Then I fisted my hand in the sleek fall of Nevarre’s hair and tugged his head back, making him expose his throat to me. He groaned deeply, his cock jutting up desperately. I sank my fangs into the beckoning arc of his throat, and his immediate release flooding my senses with his pleasure. His blood swept into me like his dark raven, a hot rush of magic and feathers and thick, heavy shadows.

  All too quickly, I felt his raven spiraling downward, wings heavy and tired. I licked my marks on his throat and as I lifted my head, Xin was there, shifting a mumbling Blood aside with Daire to make room. The ghostly silver wolf glinted in Xin’s eyes, all predator. He’d killed for me tonight, when he’d feared he’d never be able to use his gift again. They’d all killed for me in one way or another.

  He lunged for my throat, teeth flashing. I didn't flinch back. Not from him, not from any of them. I knew he'd never hurt me.

  His fangs sank deeply into the front of my throat, his jaws gripping my windpipe, though there wasn’t much room for his head against me, not with the twins on either side. He could tear my throat out if he wished. So could one of the twins. Instead, they simply held me, their fangs buried in my throat. My blood trickling into their mouths, stirring their appetite for more.

  Rik surged up inside me and it was my turn to simply surrender. To give myself over to the rising pleasure inside me. Power flowed up through me into them through our bonds, a rush of moonlight and sparkling diamonds. Distantly, I felt Mehen and Guillaume above us. The dragon gnashed his teeth with fury and flopped aimlessly on the hard floor. He wanted to shift so badly. He wanted to be here. With me. Wallowing in my desire.

  I wasn't sure if I could heal a stuffed stomach, but I sent a wave of power to him. Hopefully my magic could work in him somehow. If nothing else, maybe he'd be more comfortable, even if he couldn't shift back yet.

  Rik tightened his grip on my waist, powering up harder into me. Climax rushed at me like a massive cliff. I wanted to hold back and make it last, but my own desire swept me closer and closer to the edge. I felt the moment Xin withdrew his fangs so he could drink fully. The twins and Llewellyn immediately mirrored him. Suddenly my head felt like I was going to float away into the clouds, my blood a fountain for these four magnificent men.

  “Enough,” Rik growled at them. At me. I wasn't sure which.

  My feeding Blood immediately released me. He sat up and slid his fingers through my hair, turning my face into the hot curve of his throat. His skin burned against my face. His scent rolled through me. Hot rocks and iron. My blacksmith rock troll. I had to get him a smithy set up in my manor.

  He tightened his fingers in my hair and pressed me harder against him. “We'll worry about that later. Right now, I need you to feed, Shara. Sink your fangs in me as you climax, so we can go together.”

  I wanted to, I really did. But my brain was so fuzzy. And he was so warm and hard and strong. Everything inside me tightened. My heart stuttered a moment, as if my body's electric system was overwhelmed. They pressed closer. My twins against my back. Xin and Rik in front of me. Llewellyn. Their hands anchoring me to this plane, even though my head seemed a million miles away.

  “Shara!”

  I sank my fangs into Rik's throat ever so slowly. For the first time, I managed to control the bite. I enjoyed the way his skin gave way to me, layer by layer. The muscle underneath felt different. Meatier. Then the vein. The motherlode. His blood filled my mouth and my head exploded. I was gone. My pleasure blasted through our bonds, and I felt my Blood coming with me, even though I hadn’t bitten them all. Flying through a midnight storm on ma
ssive silent wings, I sought my prey. My thirst burned like a wildfire through my veins. I needed to feed. I needed more. So much more.

  I heard hooves. The pounding of a stallion racing to my call.

  I lifted my head and Guillaume eased Rik down to lie on the mattress. “Shara,” he whispered, pulling me toward him. “I think your alpha has had enough tonight.”

  “Give her to me,” Mehen retorted behind me.

  I thought I was mistaken. He'd been unable to shift. The dragon's belly was too full of Skye sibs. Wasn't that what he said? But the hard, demanding tug of his hands was familiar as he yanked me up off Rik and slammed into me.

  Bliss. Goddess. He flowed through me like an endless river, deep and dark and yes, dangerous. Staring into his glittering emerald eyes, I thought I should probably be a little concerned. Not afraid, because I could obliterate him with a thought if I needed to. But he'd never had free rein with me before. Rik had always been there to even him out. To even them all out and keep them controlled.

  “Dragon...” Guillaume began in a low, warning tone.

  “I fucking know what I'm doing,” Mehen snarled back. “You can't stop me. You wouldn't dare.”

  My brain was trying to function on diminished capacity, but my body thought that this was a grand idea. I wasn't afraid of Leviathan. I certainly wasn't afraid of Mehen, the man. I dug my claws into his stomach, puncturing his skin.

  Just so I could smell his blood. Such a sweet torment.

  “Yes,” he hissed. “G can take your back while you ride me.”

  “No.” Guillaume seized me by the waist and pulled me up so quickly that I couldn't react. Mehen snarled and grabbed at my hips, trying to pull me back, but G shifted me around to face him. I smelled Guillaume's blood too. Mehen had shifted enough to use his talons to shred at the Templar knight.

  I glared at him. “Why did you interrupt? I was fucking the fucking dragon.”

  His lips quirked and Mehen's fury settled some with the assurance that I wasn't refusing him. “You remember my size, right, my queen? I thought you'd rather I take the front and let the dragon have your ass.”

  “Why the fuck didn't you say so?” Mehen grumbled.

  I smiled at Guillaume, and the amused grin he gave back told me I was still higher than a kite.

  “Not high,” he amended as he lay back beneath me. “Too drained. You need to drink deeply from both of us. We're the oldest. We'll get you back on your feet quicker than the others.”

  I licked my lips as he lifted me into position. “I intend to drink you all.”

  He started to push into me and my breath caught. He stretched me impossibly wide. Having him inside me at the same time as Mehen was going to be incredible torture.

  “I can't fucking wait,” Mehen whispered against my ear.

  Yeah. Me neither.

  Though I didn't think I managed to say that aloud.

  9

  Guillaume

  I'd had the pleasure—and torment—of fucking many a queen in my day, many only at my former queen's orders, even while I dreaded the order of execution that would soon follow. Desideria loved to torture me by sending me in to play with the queen of a nest, only to order me to execute them all.

  Shara fucking Isador wiped those memories from my mind. The sounds she made as she slid down on my cock almost made me spill before she could take me all the way inside her. She gripped me so tightly that I breathed hard and gritted my teeth, fighting back my need. I wanted to rut on her like a savage stallion lost in a mating frenzy.

  “Yes,” she settled on my groin with one last excruciating twist of her hips that made sweat break out all over my body. “Please do.”

  “Do what?” Mehen asked as he moved over her back.

  “He was thinking about rutting.”

  “Sounds good to me.” He gave her more of his weight, pressing her down closer to me. Eyes blazing with hunger, she lunged toward my throat, but Mehen grabbed a handful of her hair and kept her back. “Not yet, Shara. If you bite him now, you won't have the pleasure of us both inside you.”

  “Bite me, my queen,” Xin offered his throat, sliding closer on his knees.

  She tried to lunge for him too, but Mehen kept her head pinned back against his shoulder. “You come to her, wolf.”

  I glared at Mehen, but he ignored me. Not that I was surprised. I didn't like to see him manhandling our queen in any way, although at the moment, she didn't seem to mind. It was a game, so far. If he wanted to dictate who and how she fed, it was up to her to tell him to go fuck himself. I had no doubt she would, when she tired of the game. Part of me had to admit I was interested to see how far she'd let him push.

  And even more, I wanted to see what she'd do to him when she'd had enough of his commandeering bullshit.

  Xin slid closer to us, leaning down with an elbow on my chest so he could offer his throat.

  “Slowly,” Mehen whispered with a glint of malice in his eyes.

  Xin didn't bother with a response, but immediately pressed his throat to our queen's mouth. Mehen's hiss of displeasure was almost lost beneath Xin's shout of release. She jammed fangs deeply into him. If those fucking fangs got any larger, they'd protrude out the back of our throats when she fed.

  Not that we'd care.

  Her thirst. Goddess. I'd never seen a queen drink like she did. Her capacity was astounding, not just physically, but magically. She'd already managed to drain four Blood, including her alpha, to unconsciousness. Four large, able-bodied men with gallons of blood apiece. Granted, she hadn't drained them completely dry, but still. That was no small amount of blood. Where the fuck was she putting it?

  I placed my palm on her stomach, trying to feel for any distention or pain, but she seemed fine. Certainly nowhere close to the misery the dragon had been in after chowing down on so many hapless sibs. I could feel her period blood coating my dick like liquid fire. No wonder I had so little control. I had the crazy thought that maybe her body took our blood and immediately bled it back out.

  And no wonder the dragon had wanted to be inside her too. We all wanted to feel that precious blood scorching our dicks with her need. Our queen bred. We would service her as long as we could stay conscious. It was our instinct, even if she wasn't truly trying to conceive.

  She pushed Xin away and licked her lips, her long, brutal fangs exposed. I swear, they got fucking bigger every time she fed on one of us.

  “Almost as intimidating as that big dick of yours, huh, knight?” Mehen said with a smirk. “You said you wanted to spare the gryphon, so there’s only two other Blood left to feed you, Shara. Do you want them now, or after you've had a taste of us?”

  She turned her head and reached out toward the twins, drawing them both closer. “Touch me,” she whispered. “While I hurt him.”

  I wasn't sure what she meant, but Tlacel smoothed his palms over her skin reverently, tracing the curves and hollows of her body. He lifted each breast to his mouth for a gentle kiss. She sighed softly and shoved her fingers deeply into Itztli's chest.

  Even the dragon hissed with shock. He leaned back and pulled her with him to survey the damage she'd done to the Blood.

  Itztli braced with a threatening growl that rolled from his chest. His shoulders bunched, his hair crackling up along his scalp like a ruff. “You would deny me the pain she's willing to give?”

  I hadn't realized that Itztli was a masochist. Not really. She'd fucked him and Tlacel both a few times since she'd claimed them in Mexico, and I couldn't remember anything unusual about those sessions. But the memory of how she'd sacrificed him on the tree in Zaniyah's nest should have warned me. It should have warned us all.

  Our queen was nothing but generous with her desire, and above all, consensual. She never wanted to do anything to any of us that we weren't into, no matter how hard her thirst and desire rode her. She'd never done anything to one of us that we didn't desperately want and would gladly beg her to give.

  So, if Shara hurt Itztli, even se
riously, it was only because that's what he truly wanted.

  Mehen shrugged and loosened his grip on her hair. “It's your skin.”

  “No knives,” she whispered, looking back at me. “Don't let me use a knife on him. Not unless Rik is awake and able to make sure we all stay in control.”

  “As you wish, my queen.”

  She looked back at Itztli. “The harder he fucks me, the more I'll hurt you.”

  Itztli growled like a rabid dog. “Then fuck her hard, knight.”

  10

  Shara

  I'd fed enough that at least my head wasn't trying to float away, but now I felt buzzed, as if I'd thrown back a dozen shots of tequila. So much blood burned in my body, blending together like the finest wines mixed by a world-famous sommelier.

  I had a few more Blood to savor, and then I'd be done. I'd be out. The rest of my Blood were still unconscious or weakened. The nagging worry whispered in the back of my mind that they wouldn't be enough.

  I needed more. I needed more Blood.

  I still had to face Ra. I still had to deal with the Triune.

  And while I loved my ten Blood dearly...

  I needed more, so I didn't drain them too much.

  Itztli groaned roughly, drawing my attention back to him. My fingernails glistened like silver daggers. I wasn't entirely sure how I'd done it. They weren't the winged jaguar's claws, nor the wyvern's. My stomach quivered at the thought there might be some other massive creature ready to crawl out of me.

  I didn't want to hurt or kill anyone again. When the cobra had come to me the first time, I'd killed Rik. Sometimes when Daire looked at me, I still felt his horror at what I'd done.

  Itztli pressed against my nails and dragged himself back and forth, letting me tear deep furrows into his flesh.