Page 74 of Queen Takes King
Her bonds blazed higher, pulsing hot lava that seared my mind. Guillaume came to us, sitting back on his heels as I’d done, shoulder to shoulder with me, offering our queen what she wanted. Pressing her bleeding hand over his heart, she sank over his big cock with a groan and sank her fangs just as deeply into him. He couldn’t hold back his desire. Not with our queen’s fangs in histhroat.
:Xin.:
He materialized beside her as if he’d been there, invisible, the entire time, though I knew that wasn’t true. He’d guarded the new man well. I didn’t have to look to ensure Daire had taken over that duty with Xin’s absence. She took him inside her, smearing her blood on his chest, and when she sank her fangs into him, his wolf’s howl reverberated through thenight.
Guillaume recovered to take Daire’s place guarding the new man when she called him. As was his nature, Daire invited her to take him flat on hisback.
Still seated on his hips while he panted from the force of his release, she lifted her head from Daire’s throat and said aloud, “Nevarre.”
The new man came to her side. He went to his knees and bowed his head. “I’m sorry, my queen. Forgive me. I’m not worthy of your service. I have no blood tooffer.”
Her head tilted to the side as she studied him. Through our bond, I felt the absence of the man’s heartbeat. He was dead, as she’d dreamed. Blood did not flow in his veins. Only druid magic sustainedhim.
Yet a dead man had never stopped the goddess ofresurrection.
She cupped his cheek with her bleeding hand and tenderly pressed her mouth to his. He quivered, eyes flaring wide, as our queen sucked him down, draining him. Not of blood. But hismagic.
When he didn’t try to save himself, I knew him as true Blood. Even though his magic kept him alive, he gave it all to her without hesitation. He collapsed against her and Daire, a dead weight. Lifeless. The spark blown out of hiseyes.
She smeared her blood on his lips. “Fly back to me, Nevarre. Your queen has need ofyou.”
Invisible wings fluttered past my head, as if his soul came back to her call. His chest rose, his eyes focusing on her as she pressed her bleeding palm to his mouth. When she finally lifted her hand, his heart beat so loudly I could hear it. He laid back beside Daire and she crawled over to him, taking him inside her, sinking her fangs into his throat. Taking her fifthBlood.
Yes. I thoughtfifthvery hard at Leviathan who stood watching our queen use us one after another, feasting on our blood, giving us hers. Guillaume and Xin knelt on either side of her. Holding her as she took her pleasure. Offering their mouths. Their hands. Their blood. Whatever our queendesired.
Mighty Leviathan, king of the depths, was beneath Shara Isador’s notice and certainly not worthy of being counted as Blood, no matter that her blood fueled his strength and saved his miserablelife.
Unless and until he deigned bare his throat for her, I would not count him asBlood.
Panting, she settled back on Nevarre’s hips, arms looped around Guillaume and Xin. Daire curled around her front, nuzzling her breasts, though he made room for Nevarre when he recovered enough to join in stroking our queen. They kept her off the frozen ground, using their bodies to comfort her. To shield her. As a Bloodshould.
She still burned with need and thirst both. The circle was complete—though not in her Blood. But she didn’t call Leviathan toher.
She calledme.
Shara
“Alpha.”
One single word that meant somuch.
I don’t know why I had worried for Rik’s safety. It was ridiculous, a moment of weakness, of doubting myself. Maybe part of Leviathan’s beast had whispered those doubts into my head. Because one thing I knew for certain: I lovedRik.
I loved them all. And my love was enough to keep them all alive and well and safe. Love was enough. More thanenough.
With love, I would bind them to me, strengthen them, and we would be invincible. With love, I would defeat myenemies.
And with love, I would take myking.
On his knees behind me, Rik wrapped his arms around me. He pushed into me, dick hard and big and ready to give me what I wanted. What Ineeded.
My Blood pressed close, all touching me. So many hands. Rik’s big palms, granite tenderness. G’s scarred, damaged hands. Xin’s silent, deliberate touch, a wolf revealing himself to me, only me. Daire’s playful flirt and tease, still feline even though he hadn’t shifted. And now Nevarre, his long, elegant fingers reminding me of a musician plucking strings on aharp.
At that thought, music filled my head. Earth music. The sound of creation. The Mother nurturing Her plants, animals, and children. Living things growing, expanding, changing, dying, only to fuel another generation. Birds on the wing. Leaves rustling in a gentle breeze. Stars sprinkling diamonds across a black velvet canvas. Distant comets and planets spinning, singing the same endlesstune.
Frosted grass cracked beneath his feet as he came to me. Still a man, though his dragon roared and rolled in hisbond.
He fell to his knees, hard and graceless. Defeated. By nothing but my steadfast determination to let him choose whether to accept the love I offered ornot.
