Page 19 of Queen Takes Rook
In him.
His mouth twisted in a grimace, revealing his own fangs. A low, rattling growl rumbled from his chest. But then he beat down that sound, locking his lips, tightening his throat, swallowing down the groan of hunger and desire.
Silly man. Did he think he could keep this need from me? That I, last daughter of Isis, needed him to protect me from lust and hunger and blood—the very gifts She gave me?
:I’ve lived this long without giving in to need. I can certainly die tonight without it.:
For a moment, my mind froze. Goddess. Surely, I misunderstood.:You’re still a virgin?:
His lips curled with disgust and he tried to avert his gaze, but the steady drip of my blood held him transfixed.:I have never known a woman, since the attempt to take my first sib that ended in disaster. I refused to risk harming a woman like my father did.:
I looked over at Tlacel beside him, my eyes wide.:You too? Are you still a virgin?:
:I don’t go anywhere without my twin. So yes, we’re both untouched, my queen, other than the pleasure you gave us last night when you took us as Blood.:
It was all I could do not to slap my forehead and sigh with disbelief. Two five-hundred-year-old virgins.
Daire snorted in the bond.:It’s going to be hilarious watching you break them in, my queen. If they survive this ritual.:
Mehen let out a reluctant grunt.:The scaly chicken did save our queen today when we could not. He can surely survive our queen’s darkest lusts, though I ask that you do to me whatever you do to him, my queen.:
:And me,:each of my Blood said immediately in my head, except Rik. He touched the small of my back briefly, the heat of his palm a reminder of his strength. He was there for me. He was protecting me, even from whatever darkness Itztli managed to bring to life in me. I could throw myself into the abyss and embrace the waiting darkness.
Because my alpha had my back and always would.
* * *
EZRA
My queen always made a formidable impression on a man, but Shara Isador holding a wicked-sharp obsidian blade in her hand made the hairs on my nape stand up. Ice dripped down my spine, but I said nothing.
I hoped to goddess I was wrong.
Fuck me. If she started torturing the man on his knees before her, I was going to have to…
My ribcage ached and I couldn’t breathe.
I’d seen too much shit go down in Skye’s court. How she’d tortured alpha after alpha. Itztli was not Rik by any means, but in any other court, he could be alpha. He had the age and enough power waiting to be unleashed by his queen.
We Aima loved feeding on blood and sex, sure. But the moment she started feeding on pain…
She’d be just another Keisha Skye, and that’d fucking break my goddess-damned heart. I never loved Skye, but I’d been welcomed into Isador. Between Shara and Daire, and yeah, the rest of her Blood, even the bitching dragon, I’d found family I’d never known I missed. The thought of dragging my shaggy ass back out into the wilderness to live the solitary bear life damned near made me lose my mind.
I couldn’t be alone now. Not like that. Not after being a part of Shara’s court. Her fucking family.
But if she was going to torture anyone, especially a Blood, then I’d have to find the strength in me to leave.
Her blood on the ground sprouted a plant that shot out of the dirt and surged upward toward the shining moon with alarming speed. Woody vines writhed like a nest of snakes, as the center of the bush grew tall enough to touch Shara’s outstretched hand. The plant shivered with ecstasy, her dripping blood giving it life like some kind of alien plant, but it curled its vines around the man, not our queen.
The whites of his eyes flashed with surprise, but he didn’t fight the entwining plant, even as it dragged him off the ground. When I finally realized what the tree was doing, I almost threw up.
The bush had flattened out into what looked like an altar, with Itztli spread-eagled on top of it.
Someone laid a hand on my arm, making me twitch with surprise. Daire whispered in my head.:She’d never torture someone like Skye.:
My heart insisted he was right, but my brain kept throwing up images of bleeding alphas and endless screams. It was horrifying how long Skye had been able to keep a man alive while screaming like that. Alphas, no less.
Despite his assurance, I sensed a heavy weight in his bond, too. A memory that made him feel almost as badly as I was right now. With a wry lift of his shoulder, he gave me the memory of a huge black cobra breaking Rik’s bones like nothing, and then pumping him with venom. I watched Rik’s flesh swell and blacken, and then the cobra sucked him dry.
