Page 7 of Queen of Ashes and Scars
We climb the wall to the first balcony and use the rust-flecked emergency ladder to reach the flat roof. Once there, I check the block below, but the only sounds audible are distant sirens and the rumble of the air-conditioning units crammed in the windows. Vapors of industrial solvent float through the seedy neighborhood.
“We’re good for now,” I announce.
My palms are still sweaty from the motorcycle ride, my hard dick aching from the way her thighs squeezed mine. “We should approach the address Keenan gave me and watch it from a dist—”
Arielle glides a finger below the lapel of my jacket. “Remember when I promised to have you fired?”
A wolfish grin blooms on my lips, my hands instinctively flying to her waist. “How could I forget such a lovely threat.”
“Since I’m now your boss, I’m willing to break that promise. Depends on how well you follow orders.”
Her luminous smile makes my dick throb, and I pull her in for a wild, dizzying kiss. Her ruby-red lips are sweeter than I remembered, her hungry hands sneaking under the hem of my shirt like she wants to tear my clothes off. Adrenaline boils in my blood and heightens my senses to the point where pleasure and pain blur. Jesus, I should put a halt to this now before it goes too far. Before I completely fall for her and lose what small part of my brain I have left.
This is serious shit. I should pull back and re-draw the line between us. Stealing the princess’ V-card before a sham marriage is one thing, but fooling around with the queen is another.
And fuck, it’s hot. I want a second night with her. And a third. I don’t care how dangerous it is. I don’t care that she’ll probably break my heart.
She looks me up and down, her tousled hair and red lips stealing my breath. “Drop your pants, Mr. Beaumont.”
“Your wish is my command, Your Highness.”
She wrangles her white, virginal panties past the kink in her knees, the hiked-up skirt of her black dress revealing a blue garter at her mid-thigh. Saliva dries from my mouth, the sight of the ritualistic apparel twisting my insides. This was supposed to be her wedding night, and the thought of ravishing her on a roof and making her screammy nameinstead suddenly becomes my new life goal.
I fumble with the belt, pull my pants down, and capture her in my arms. Without missing a beat, she wraps her thighs around my midriff, the potent scent of her arousal driving me wild. It’s hurried and messy, but after last night, it feels only too easy and natural to pin her to the rooftop enclosure’s wall.
She sinks her nails into my shoulder blade and wrenches me closer. “Don’t hold back,” she pants. “I need you.”
“Oh, Lucky.” I kiss her neck, euphoria flowing thick in my veins, and I don’t remember the last time I was so hard, my dick reacting to her touch like I’m a fucking teenager.
I bury myself deep inside her, and she goes mad for it, her head falling to the red brick wall at her back as I hold her weight with one hand. Slurred words of encouragement ghost along the shell of my ear as I flatten my free palm to the red brick to give her a moment, dying to thrust hard and fast, my blood racing with each breath.
“Wait. The necklace,” she whimpers.
I check if the wretched thing got tangled in her hair, but the metal is actually burning-hot.
She slides to her feet, her eyes wide with fear. “It burns.”
The hot links blister her neck, and the scent of burnt flesh pervades the air. Red and black flakes of skin peel off and curl at the heat. Dark red blood pools in the fresh burns to heal them, but the process only manages to keep her alive, not stop the necklace from burning hotter and hotter. My gaze darts across the roof like a drunken bee, my mind reeling for an explanation. I concentrate on my senses, but not one heartbeat is audible in the distance, and my killer instincts tell me we’re completely alone.
A primal desperation kicks in, and I grip both sides of the chain to tear it from her neck. The links singe my hands, but I push through the pain, the necklace resistant to my assaults. A sickening squeeze tightens my gut as it starts to glow under my frozen stare, and I jolt away.
Red tears pour out of her eyes. “What’s happening?”
I grip my hair, my chest threatening to implode from helplessness. “I don’t know.”
The red-orange links flicker in the night.
“It’s…better.” She pats down her burned chest. “I think it’s you…it gets hotter whenever you touch me.”
A chill numbs my arms and legs. “Fuck! It started burning when I entered you…it’s a fidelity collar.”
We exchange a long look, my hands shaking with rage.
Her long vampire teeth flash into view as she wrestles the fiery necklace in vain. “I swear to you, Alec. If I survive this, I’m going to kill the damned bastard.”
Chapter5
Scarlet Witch
