Page 17 of Queen Takes Knights
Daire pressed against my back, tucking me against the solid wall of Alrik’s chest. “We feared for you.”
At his words, Alrik shuddered against me and pressed his forehead to mine. “You died in my arms. It was the most horrible thing I’ve ever lived through.”
“It wasn’t pleasant for me either,” I said wryly. “I guess that’s what you meant by a curse.”
“Everyone’s heard rumors of House Isador’s deadly gifts,” Alrik said grimly. “And no one was missing Isador the past thirty years.”
The crushing weight of this new legacy was going to take some getting used to. “She,” I said with emphasis, because it felt disrespectful to use the goddess’s given name, “said they would try to kill me. Is that true?”
When they both tightened their arms around me, I had my answer before Alrik said, “Yes.”
“But that’s what we’re here for,” Daire said, rubbing his cheek against my shoulder.
I could feel Alrik in my mind, his touch solid, steady, protective, alert. I felt his emotions as my own. Relief that I was alive, anger at the thought of anyone trying to hurt me, and yeah, desire. The big guy was already hard and thinking about sex again, though I couldn’t feel his erection when his entire body was a chunk of concrete.
I couldn’t feel Daire the same way, even though he was tight against my back. I didn’t have a full bond with him. Yet. I looked up at Alrik. Smiling, he carefully drew one of his large fingers down my cheek. “You have another Blood to take, my queen.”
Daire didn’t say anything or move, but I felt his intensity ratchet up a notch. Hunger. Desire. Desperate aching need. I didn’t need a bond to know how much he wanted my blood, and my body, the same as his friend had done.
I turned my head toward him, and that was enough encouragement for him to lift and turn me fully around to face him.
He smiled, a dimple flashing in his cheek. “Hi.”
Fuck, he was sexy as hell. “Did you want something?”
He nodded vigorously, his hair tumbled down into his eyes. “Yes, my queen.”
“What do you want?”
His smile slipped, his eyes wide and dark as he stared at me. “You.”
“But how?”
He shook his head slightly. “You. The rest doesn’t matter.”
I reached out to play with his hair, twirling one of the touseled locks around my finger as I tried to figure him out. He liked to joke around, that was obvious. He could flirt one second, and be deadly serious the next. He was just as protective as Alrik, but not as … driven or solemn or intense. He could take things lighter, because he trusted Alrik to have things under control.
“I’m his alpha,” Alrik whispered against my ear. Very human lips. I hadn’t felt or sensed him changing back into his normal shape. There hadn’t been any flash of light or even a hair prickling on my skin. “Now you’re his alpha too.”
“Am I your alpha?”
“You’re my queen. You’re so far beyond alpha that if you ordered me to cease breathing, I’d die trying.”
But there was an element of… not pride, exactly, but steel, in his manner. He would take my orders, probably even gladly, because he chose to do it. Even before he’d gained his troll power, he’d possessed that steel in his spine, the weight in his words, the directness in his manner. Yet they’d said they’d never served a queen before. It must have chaffed his pride for years to be so far removed from the queen, the primary source of power in his world.
A normal man would probably get ideas in his head about how quickly he could overthrow the woman and take control for himself. I didn’t sense that kind of drive in him—only a determination to take care of me. He was the kind of man who’d fight to the death, even if stark naked and unarmed. Protecting me.
Dying for me.
That made me shudder. I’d only known them a few hours, but I couldn’t imagine going back to my old life. Always alone. Moving. Scared. Lonely. Aching for comfort and safety.
:Never again, Shara. You’ll never be alone again.:
I realized that even if I was physically separated from Alrik, I still wouldn’t be alone, because he’d be in my head. He’d know what I was feeling or thinking. It should have felt intrusive, like a violation of my privacy, but at least right now, I actually liked it. I liked having his touch, even if only in my mind.
And I really wanted Daire to have that same ability. I looked into his eyes and watched the way his pupils dilated, his nostrils flaring.
“Take me to bed.”
