Page 26 of Queen Takes Blood
She lifted her hand and called enough light to illuminate the upper dome of the cavern. Peering over the edge, she studied the refuse littering the floor, as if trying to estimate how many creatures that I’d killed over the centuries.
Too many to fucking count.
Her gaze focused on one very human skull near the top. Crunched open so I could suck out the brains but still identifiable.
“The last was two years ago.” I relished the way she flinched at my voice, her head jerking up to scan the ledge.
I crept out of my lair, my manner slow and easy. She couldn’t escape. I had plenty of time to play with my food. Though I couldn’t help but think of the dreams. The way she’d given power to me so generously.
To me. The monster who slithered in her dreams and would now drink every drop of her power to be free.
I glided in a lazy spiral toward the floor, pretending complete disinterest. I didn’t hiss or attack, even though my scales itched with urgency. Power curled around her, tendrils of magic that could attack at any moment. Thick black tentacles of ultraviolet shadow. The soft pearly glow of a full moon on water. The golden warmth of the sun. The crackle and heat of fire. Even the flash of brutal fangs, a black hood rising over her shoulders like a massive cobra.
So much power.
Enough to free me from this never-ending prison.
Why doesn’t she strike?
At the last possible moment, I swept my tail out, lashed around her ankles, and dragged her off the ledge. I slammed her down hard enough beneath me that her breath rushed out, but I didn’t hurt her. Not yet.
Plenty of time. Enjoy the chase. In case this is the last time…
“Shara.” I drew her name out in a long hiss. “So kind of you to visit me in person this time.”
Eyes wide, she tried to scramble away, slipping in the bone pile. I pinned her easily, claws digging into the tender meat of her belly. Ready to tear her apart if she so much as twitched.
Yet she still didn’t strike.
Blood dripped from her hand, a siren song of lust threatening to drag me down to the bottomless depths of madness that had been stewing inside me for thousands of years.
“Seems as though I forgot the key for your chains. Oh wait…” She let the sentence end with a wry quirk of her lips.
As ifshehadn’t bound me in those very same chains.
Head cocked, I fought down the raging thirst to study her. I still didn’t understand her game. Why she didn’t attack me with all this magnificent power pulsing over my scales. Filling up my nostrils with the scents of a lush oasis in the middle of a burning desert. It made no sense. Was she so young that she didn’t even understand her power yet? Perhaps she assumed thatIwas powerful enough to control her dreams.
If so, I would eat her up at the end of a regretfully quick chase.
“That was a nice touch in your dreams, wasn’t it?” I let out a smug chuckle, watching emotion flicker over her face. “I thought you might feel safer approaching me if you thought I was bound.”
Her lips cracked open, betraying her own hunger. She thought to feast onme. When she was the tender morsel. Good fucking luck getting those puny fangs through my hide.
I couldn’t help but laugh as I lowered my head closer to inhale her lush scent. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited for you?”
“It couldn’t be that long. I’m only twenty-two.”
Fucking hell. Even younger than I thought. I refused to feel even an ounce of remorse. My rage burned too hot to care about one too-fucking-young idiot queen. I snarled and snapped in her face, making her flinch. “Notyouin particular, but any Aima queen stupid enough to try and free me.”
“So you don’t want to be free?”
Ah, here it came. Her inevitable attempt at a fool’s bargain that made me gnash my teeth with fury. “Not if my freedom comes with the kind of hooks that queens try and put into me. I’d rather be here than chained to obey like those morons you call Blood. I don’t live toserve,” I sneered. “I don’t live to protect. I don’t give a fuck about you.”
“Fair enough. I don’t give a fuck about you either.” She gave a little shrug though her voice deepened with slumberous, sultry tones. “I already have Blood to feed and protect me.”
A young queen ripe with power. Taking everything her Blood would give. It disgusted me how much the thought lingered in my head. It’d been a very long time since I’d fucked. Especially as a man. “And fuck you.”
“Of course.” She deliberately widened her eyes slightly, trying to look innocent. “So if you don’t want your freedom, I’ll be on my way.”
