Page 5 of Queen Takes Checkmate
Even more,Ineeded her in my arms. I needed to feel that connection with her as assurance that we were both alive and well. She’d been victorious, and though we’d taken some damage, it wasn’t anything we couldn’t recover from. It wasn’t somethingIcouldn’t recover from.
I didn’t want to remember the way Tanza’s blood had burned into me, destroying everything I loved. It hadn’t been the pain that hurt so badly. It’d been the doubt. The crippling fear that I would be so broken and damaged that I wouldn’t be able to serve as Shara’s Blood ever again. Let alone as alpha.
Tanza had tortured my mind as well as my body by taking images from my memory and twisting them. Like when Guillaume had first come to our queen’s call. He’d chopped off my head, but only after making me watch him take my place in her bed. My place as her alpha at her back. My place in her heart.
That vision hurt more than the lingering internal damage.
Even though I’d been hurt, I wanted her to come to me first for protection and assistance, pleasure and blood. I needed her to reinforce my position as her alpha.
I thought she would refuse me. I wasn’t one hundred percent yet. Something still felt… raw inside me. But she needed to be stronger if something nasty waited on the other side of the cell door.
Her dark eyes gleamed, missing nothing. Her bond shimmered in my mind like pure moonlight, spinning crystals though me. Shining her light on those dark, shadowed places that still hurt.
“Okay,” she whispered, reaching up to cup my cheek. “But I’ll need your help.”
My throat ached. Shara had never liked asking for help, especially when it came to feeding. At one point, she’d almost starved herself as her power started to come in, though her fangs hadn’t, simply because she hadn’t wanted to ask for assistance.
So for her to ask—for anything—was a priceless gift.
She was fully capable of asking Guillaume for a blade, but she left the decision to me. She wanted me to be her alpha in all ways, even something as minor as this.
“Nevarre.” My voice was rougher than I intended, though her raven Blood came to us without complaint. “Bite me for our queen.”
He gave me an agreeable grin and slid close, tucking Shara between us. His long black hair slid over her shoulder like a silken blanket, making her give him a sultry look. “It’s been entirely too long since I had you in my bed, Nevarre.”
“I agree, my queen.” He winked without animosity and leaned in toward my throat, but he paused, waiting for me to give him the okay, even though I’d ordered him to come to our queen’s aid.
I’d chosen Nevarre for several reasons. She was right—he could use some more time with her. He’d come to her at the same time as Mehen, whose gigantic personality and ancient power easily overshadowed everyone around him. Then she’d added the twins in Mexico. Nevarre wasn’t as grumpy or playful or formidable as the others. He and Xin carried a quiet, deadly power that was easy to overlook.
Nevarre hadn’t shifted, so it made it easier and quicker for him to help her. But I’d also chosen him because of his personality. He hadn’t complained or ruffled any feathers despite other new Blood joining the fold, and he wasn’t going to bitch or complain like Mehen. And Guillaume…
While I trusted him implicitly, the scene Tanza had put into my head was too fresh to ask the headless knight to tear open my throat, even in service to our queen.
I gave Nevarre a nod and he sank his fangs into my throat, just long enough to make the wound for her. Shara made a low sound of hunger that made my fangs and dick throb with anticipation. Closing my eyes, I sank into her bond as she sealed her mouth over the punctures. My blood slid down her throat. I felt the rush of alpha power flooding her system. The surge of desire that tightened her body. She had a hand fisted in Nevarre’s hair, her arm locked around my neck. Nevarre tucked his face against her back, soaking her in even though she wasn’t feeding on him.
Guilt twinged. I needed to do a better job of making sure each of her Blood had time to touch and hold her. And with as much as she loved each of us, she needed the time too. They needed to feel her love and revel in her pleasure, the same as her alpha.
She licked the punctures closed and lifted her head. Too soon. I felt her hunger still burning in her veins like a ravaging fever. Turning in my arms, she reached for Nevarre. His eyes flared with hope, another stab of guilt through my heart. She didn’t have to ask me to lean down and sink my fangs into him so she could feed.
:I’m sorry, Nevarre. I’ll make sure you have more time with her.:
:No apology is needed, alpha. I know all too well how difficult it is to balance each Blood’s duty and service for a powerful queen. My need is nothing, as long as hers are met.:
:I need you, too, Nevarre,:she whispered in the bond with a sense of aching need that had us both pressing her harder between us.
She fed from him long enough that I felt his heart thudding heavily in the bond. Reluctantly, she lifted her head and pressed her lips to his.:You always taste like magic.:
:My magic and my blood are yours, my queen.:
I did a quick sweep through her bond to check her health and strength level. She could still stand to feed from at least another couple of us, but she was plenty strong enough to deal with whatever was behind this door. Even if it was another queen as strong as Keisha.
Which was a sobering thought. Before I’d left in search of my own queen, I’d been in awe of how strong Keisha was. She’d held New York City and was the strongest queen in the Americas. Her power had dwarfed my mother’s Hyrrokkin queen, though we weren’t known for immense power, only our physical strength and size.
Keisha’s power was a drop in the bucket compared to Shara’s. She was the strongest queen in the Americas now, and very likely rivaled even Marne Ceresa or the Dauphine. The Triune queens, with one seat open.
I couldn’t claim any knowledge of the goddesses’ plans for my queen, but I’d be a fool to not expect the Triune call. Only Shara would be strong enough to hold that third seat and stand against the other two queens. The scope of those duties…
Already, she wanted nothing to do with the seat, and she didn’t even know a fraction of the responsibilities that would come with it. Though we needed the Triune whole and strong. Aima were losing our courts and queens faster than new queens could possibly be born, even now that some of the ancient lines had been rejuvenated with godly sires. The Triune needed her, whether or not Marne or the Dauphine would admit it.
