Page 120 of Caged Kitten

To see them all bonding—and not just because of me, but because they enjoyed each other’s company.

A clan of misfits.

After a quick scan of the shadows, I turned slowly and continued my amble down the corridor, hands in my luxurious skirts. Every outfit I wore was fit for a queen, my closets filled to the brim by Fintan’s sisters—who had showed up that first day to discover their brother’s girl severely hungover and in possession of nothing beyond a prison jumpsuit to wear to court. After that, it was one magnificent gown after the other, and once I had stopped puking up fae wine, me and the princesses got along just fine. Some better than others, but he had nine sisters—the odds were stacked against me that I would be besties with all of them.

Tonight was no exception to the fancy-dress policy. After all, I had appearances to maintain in court, and I did so in a beautiful silvery-white gown patterned with glittering stars. The thin straps over my shoulders probably wouldn’t last the night, the men behind me prone to destroying my outfits, and the plunging neckline had kept Fintan distracted for most of dinner. And the skirt, oh—flouncy and layered, the material fell like petals to the ground and had pockets. Practical and breathtaking.

Every arched window I passed opened to the magnificence of the Midnight Court. The kingdom glittered all around the palace, a court made wealthy by the abundance of diamonds in their mountains. Blanketed in midnight, the city reflected the sky, thousands of little white lights sparkling like the unfettered stars above. Surrounded by majesty—but here, in this winding corridor, also totally alone. Fintan’s personal guard had left us at the entrance to the prince’s domain.

And that was just the way we liked it.

“Come here, little witch…” Rafe’s seductive growl made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and sent a flood of giddy goose bumps down my arms. Lower lip caught between my teeth, I slowed, sensing he was close, maybe even right on my heels, then whipped around to find… nothing.

Same old corridor, Elijah and Fintan still a ways down, singing and laughing and teetering side to side.

Sober as ever, Rafe had all the power tonight.

And that was just the way I liked it.

I sprinted down the stone corridor with a giggle, skirt trailing behind me like a comet’s tail, like I was the heroine of an epic fantasy romance being pursued by her lover. And I was, of course, being pursued—more like hunted, not just by a lover, but a predator too.

Hair blazing, wild and free, I threw a glance over my shoulder, expecting to find a shadow in the shape of a man—nothing. Again. Lips pursed, I faced forward—then screeched when I crashed into Rafe’s much too solid chest. Clad in a full black suit, right down to the socks and the tie, luxe and rich beneath my fingers as they clawed at him, shoved at him like an escape was even possible. When our eyes met, hunger and desire blazed bright in his, and with a flash of golden fang, he hauled me off to the side and thrust me up against a patch of wall between two arched windows.

“Found you,” he growled, one hand fisted into my hair, the other plunging down my skirt and cupping me between my thighs. I gasped when he wrenched my head to the side, then squealed when he pounced. A pinprick of pain always bloomed before the explosion of pleasure, a vampire’s venom inducing an orgasm unlike any I had ever experienced. No matter how I was feeling, no matter where my mind was, a bite from Rafe made me come like we had been at it for hours, like he had worked me into such a frenzy that I just might die if he didn’t let me sink into oblivion.

Eyes clenched shut, I halfheartedly pushed at him, twisting at his jacket and squirming against his steely frame, hopelessly pinned as he drank from me. Fae fireworks paled in comparison to the bursts of light and color pinwheeling behind my lids, and my legs drifted apart like they had a mind of their own, allowing Rafe in. Through the blinding haze of pleasure, of ecstasy coursing through my veins and sapping the fight from my limbs, I vaguely felt him massaging me, grinding the base of his hand into my clit so that my cries turned squeaky with every fiery flare in my belly.

He only relented when the others arrived, walking into a scene already underway, chuckling amongst themselves. When Rafe reared back, my blood smeared his mouth, dribbled down his neck—stained my lovely dress—and he dragged me away from the wall, showing me off for Elijah and Fintan with a few clicks of his tongue.

“She’s fucking shitfaced,” the vampire announced, his eyes bloodshot and his voice rough. I twisted out of his hold, a touch light-headed but perfectly capable of handling myself after his bite. I mean, this wasn’t the first time—not even of this trip—and it definitely wouldn’t be the last.

“Am not,” I protested, adding a childish stomp just to make them grin like the wolfish predators they were in the bedroom—three men who catered to me everywhere else, who spoiled me, kissed me sweetly in the rain, and protected me from outsiders.

Who had their way with me behind closed doors, rough and unrelenting, dominant and brutal and mine.

Before I could recite every drop of fae wine I’d had to drink tonight, Elijah swept in, his hulking frame wrapped in maroon; golden hair like a halo, body dressed for sin, my dragon was the best of both worlds. He jerked me to him with a firm hand on my lower back, then dragged his tongue from my bare shoulder all the way up to my ear, his deep rumble making my sex clench and my belly loop with anticipation.

He hummed, deep and dangerous, eyes burning into the side of my face as he nudged me back into the center of the trio. “She tastes like fae wine.”

“Gentlemen, if I may?” Fintan interjected, all prim and proper in a dark grey suit almost identical to Elijah and Rafe’s, down to the pearl buttons and golden cuffs with slits in the back for his wings, his lofty accent hammed up now that he was back home. He took a prowling step toward me, then another when I scampered back and bumped into Rafe’s chest again. The fae prince cocked his head to the side, mouth stretched in a sinful smile, and nodded down to my skirt. “I believe you are missing the most important elixir of all…”

I zipped around Rafe when Fintan lunged for me with a starved look in his eye, my giggle arcing into a squeal when I felt him swipe at my flowing skirts. Unlike my prowling vampire, my fae saw no reason to creep in the shadows, to take advantage of the permanent night offered in his court. He pursued me down the rest of the corridor at a steady clip, jogging compared to my full-tilt bolt, perfectly capable of catching me in a heartbeat if he so chose, his wings an exquisite deep amber and protruding from the back of his suit.

Instead, he let me stumble into the double doors that peeled open into his bedroom, the tower soaring overhead, filled with rooms for pleasure and bathrooms like world-class spas and walk-in closets the size of my Seattle apartment. I shoved at the huge wood panels, the constellation Fintan lorded as an earl carved into the oak, and then barreled through when the locks mysteriously gave way.

Mysteriously. Right. All three of my men enjoyed letting me think I had bested them—and then thoroughly proving that I hadn’t. Most of all, I enjoyed letting them. As soon as the doors parted, I stumbled clumsily into Prince Fintan’s enormous bedroom. Before me stretched a sea of white and gold marble, a round bed in the center big enough for ten. Writing desks and golden maps of all the fae courts suggested his parents had high hopes for a scholar when they’d furnished the space, along with the hundreds of books stacked deep on the towering shelves. Three armchairs sat around a slate hearth, in which roared a plum fire that never extinguished, and behind them was a free-floating bar—literally with no legs—that navigated the room under some enchantment, rattling to your side whenever your drink was getting low.

This place always took my breath away.

And that was when one of them got me—always. This time it was Fintan barreling into his bedroom after me, his breath hot on my neck as he hooked his arm around my waist and yanked me flush against him. After nibbling at my shoulder, hands wandering my body possessively, he retreated just enough to grab the back of my dress and rip it right down the middle. I pouted at the protests of the fabric, the designer’s meticulous work ruined by a horny prince.

Silvery-white silk and lace and sequined tulle gathered at my feet, the rest of me totally naked; it drove all three of them wild knowing I went to these court events without panties or a bra. Sometimes we left early for that reason alone.

My nipples pebbled at the onslaught of chilly night air, trembling with every ragged breath, and I shot onto my tiptoes with a giggle when Fintan cuffed the back of my neck and hoisted me up just a little. Held me in place. Made me wait for the others to arrive. And when they did, Elijah and Rafe sauntered in like they had all the time in the world, eyeing my nudity with fiery interest. While Elijah drifted toward the fireplace, drawn to the magic fae flames like a moth to a—well, you know—Rafe lingered, golden fangs still tinged red as he flashed a grin and let out a delicious chuckle when he tweaked my nipple.

Fintan, meanwhile, let his free hand rove unchecked, smoothing over my hips, my ass, my breasts, before eventually delving between my thighs, a finger thrust through my slick folds. He greeted the wetness with a satisfied huff against my throat.

“She’s positively dripping,” he announced, teasing me with his lips and teeth, that talented tongue sweeping the curve of my earlobe, and Rafe shook his head with a sharper, more biting laugh that made my toes curl.

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