A Throne of Ruin: Chapter 12
That was, everyone froze in terror…except for me.
My body turned pliant as arousal licked higher. My animal leaked fire into my already scorching body.
Nyfain looked like one of the dragon gods of old, come down from the heavens to smite the land. Dirt and blood streaked across his chest. A fresh gash sliced his right bicep. His dark brown hair was wild, and an impressive display of muscle corded down his robust body.
He rushed in, his presence emanating strength and raw, vicious power. He clapped eyes on the three on the couch and growled, terrible to behold. He was upon them before they could get untangled.
“Where is she?” He grabbed Long Hair by the throat and launched him across the room.
“Not the books, Nyfain, be careful,” I yelled. Maybe I should’ve been worried about the guy, but ink before kink. The books were the priority.
The others didn’t look my way, not with the mighty dragon prince leaning over them. He did, though. His head snapped up, his eyes on fire. He grabbed the back of the couch with his hand. He yanked, overturning it, dumping the two onto the floor.
“Get out,” he snarled, his feet pounding against the wood as he stalked my way.
Long Hair took off at a hobbling run, not bothering to grab his clothes on the way out. The other two managed to disentangle, his dick popping out of her ass, and they hurried along after him. Nyfain came into my little den, as I thought of it, his eyes scanning, landing on my leg pulled wide and my dress pulled up. His eyes flashed, rage and hunger running through the bond.
“I was being a voyeur,” I blurted, my face flaming heat.
In embarrassment, I moved to fling my dress down my leg, but he dashed forward and grabbed my wrist so fast I gasped in shock.
“Did one of them touch you?” he said. Possessiveness rang in every word.
My animal rolled and basked in it, purring in delight. Hmm, alpha, she thought.
His brutal intensity crashed down on me, soaking deep into my flesh. I arched within it, wetness trickling out of my pussy. I wanted him to take me. To ride me hard, to explode me into pieces and then meld me back together before destroying me again.
“No, I was back here by myself,” I said huskily. “I was going to leave, but they got naked really quick, and they would’ve seen me, and then…”
“And then?” he asked in a dangerous tone.
“And then I didn’t want to leave because it was hot to watch. I wanted you to be here with me, watching and fucking, but you weren’t, so…”
He brought my hand up slowly, his eyes on mine. He sucked my first two fingers into his mouth. I barely dared to breathe as I watched him taste me. His cock stood straight and proud, the tip shiny, ready for me. I licked my lips, catching his heated gaze.
He flung the other portion of my dress up to my hip, exposing me fully. He knelt on the lounger, pushing my knee up and then hooking his hand on my hip and pulling me closer.
“What am I going to do with you?” he asked, eyeing my neck now. “I try to refrain, but you keep getting sexier and sexier. It’s killing me.”
He grabbed my wrists and pinned them above my head.
“I felt your desire through the bond,” he said, keeping my wrists in one of his large hands and then feeling down my chest with the other. He slid a thumb across my nipple before reaching lower and pushing two fingers into my pussy. “And then I felt your passion, as if someone was fucking you. You were so into it. I thought for sure one of the demons had gotten a hold of you. I ran from the other end of the kingdom, ready to tear the castle apart. And here you are, in your little hideaway, touching yourself as you watch a threesome. Fuck, you’re so wet.”
He smelled up my neck before nipping my jaw.
“You have an uncompromising hold on me, princess.” He plunged his fingers in faster. “I dream of you. I think of you always. My dragon begs to be back in control so he can feel your animal. It’s tearing me apart.”
He bit down on my neck, puncturing skin, and a thrill exploded through my body.
“I have never felt this strongly about anything in my entire life. It’s not natural. It’s certainly not normal. And yet I live for it. I’d die for it. I will die for it.” He ran his tongue across the fresh wound before grazing his teeth down lower, to my shoulder. “What would happen if we just gave in?”
My chest heaved. I couldn’t get enough air. I pushed my head back and away, giving him all the access he needed, knowing it was a terrible idea for so many reasons but not wanting to think of them. My animal uncoiled within me, desperate for him to bite. To finally do this. To claim us as his.
He stroked his tongue across my flesh. Scraped his teeth.
I yanked at my hands to get loose. To reach down and grab his cock. To guide him into my desperate body.
“Fuck, Finley, I want to,” he whispered, skimming his lips to the crook of my neck and then up to my lips. “I want to so badly.”
His kiss was deep and possessive. His hold on my wrists was firm, almost painful. He grabbed the base of his cock and lined it up before driving it into me. I cried out, gloriously filled, and then melted into the lounger. He pulled out and then rammed in again, starting fast, getting faster. He kept his lips on mine as he drove in deep. His balls slapped against me. His hipbones banged against my flesh.
I called his name, trapped in his grip. My eyes fluttered, flickering light dancing across my lids. His body moved within me, the glorious friction setting my everything humming.
He sat back onto his knees, his erect cock shiny with my juices. He was dirty and bloody and raw and incensed, and I turned into liquid within his heated stare. In that moment, he could mold and shape me however he pleased.
“Come here and sit on my cock,” he commanded.
Fire pinged through my body. My animal was right near the surface, not taking control but not wanting to miss a single thing. She liked the look of this alpha as much as she liked the sound of him. The feel. One day we’d battle, he and I, and I’d make him prove his physical dominance while I proved I had a will of steel, but not right now. Right now, I was drunk on lust. Raw on need. Right now I wanted to be his fuck toy.
I pushed to my knees gracefully, mindful of my dress.
“Take it off,” he said, realizing it and thankfully not wanting to damage it.
I pulled my hair from the bun and let it tumble down in a messy collection of waves. I then swept it to the side and turned, allowing him to find the few buttons. He unclasped them, his fingertips whispering against my back. Goosebumps spread across my skin in their wake.
I turned to him again, on my knees now, and pulled the straps from my shoulders. I let the dress slide down my body, catching on my breasts before falling to my knees. I sat back and pulled it out from under me before dropping it in a beautiful cascade of fabric to pool on the floor.
I waited for him to tell me to climb on. He paused, though, to look at my exposed flesh, reaching forward to trace the backs of his fingers down the slope of my breast and over my nipple. He then ran them down my cheek, and his eyes softened as his fingers trailed my jaw and gently traced the line of my throat.
He took my hand and pulled me closer. Intense emotion rolled through the bond—warmth, reverence, devotion, and something stronger that took my breath away. My animal basked in it, and I could feel his dragon through the bond pumping out power to enhance it.
“Fuck me, Finley.”
With a surge of desire, I climbed into his lap, my arms around his neck, my lips on his. He wrapped my legs around his hips as I settled down onto him. His cock drove up into my body, deep and delicious. He grabbed the sides of my butt and lifted before crashing me back down, jutting up with his hips as he did so. Pleasure speared me. I dropped my head back and sighed out his name. He did it again, and again, plunging so deep it filled my whole world. I dropped my hand to work my clit as I bounced on top of him.
“Finley,” he said, his fingers tangled in my hair, his cheek pressed to mine. It sounded like he was begging. Like he was pleading for something. Emotion bled through the bond. I didn’t know what he was responding to, I just knew something deep inside of me was flowering. It felt like he was opening himself up a little more, and as he did, I was cracking open with him.
I kissed him deeply, rocking on top of him. Nearly there. I draped my hands over his back and ran my fingers down one of his wing scars.
He growled, suddenly bucking frantically, ramming me hard. I hit a peak and cried out, shuddering. He pushed forward onto the lounger, putting me under him, still going. Still fucking me like a man possessed.
The sensations overwhelmed me. Dragged me under. I kept going, jerking my hips to meet his downward thrusts. The slap of our skin echoing. Our moans competing. Harder he strove. Harder still. I ran my fingers down his scar again, applying more pressure. Putting some nails into it before the sensations became too much. The thick slide of him inside me set me further aflame. I hit another peak but didn’t tumble over. There I stayed, at the top, my body strung out beyond anything I’d ever felt, desperate to pitch over.
“Please, Nyfain,” I cried, tight all over, more pleasure rolling through me. His thrusts were hard and brutal, his pleasure incomparable. “I need to come!”
He kissed me, bruising. Dominating.
The wave crashed, and I came violently, shaking against him. But still he strove, his teeth scraping against my shoulder. I came again. And again, a constant stream of pleasure that I couldn’t seem to escape. That I didn’t want to.
“Come with me!” he commanded. His power shocked through me. His teeth pierced the flesh on my neck.
I screamed out my orgasm, nearly blacking out, clutching him with everything I had. He shook against me, finishing with two hard thrusts, and then stayed buried inside me.
His chest heaved, and he pushed his weight onto me, not asking if I could take it. I kissed his neck and draped my limbs around him, liquifying into the lounger.
We rested for a long moment in silence, limbs entwined.
“Did you honestly think I’d enjoy myself with a bunch of demons?” I asked softly. “What were you thinking?”
“They can make a person enjoy themselves.”
“Not me. Not anymore. I don’t even need the draught—when they put that magic on me, it makes me nauseated.”
He stroked his fingertips down my arm. “That’s good to know.”
“Your response was a bit overkill, though. Are all shifters that possessive?”
“Dragons are incredibly possessive when they…feel strongly,” he said, and butterflies spread through my stomach with that hitch in his words. I wondered what he’d been about to say. “Being that I’m an alpha, and me, I am worse than most.”
“What’s going to happen with your fiancée when all this ends? The curse, I mean.”
His brow furrowed. “My fiancée?”
“The one who owned the dresses in the tower. The faerie.”
He shook his head. “She has certainly moved on. As soon as the curse went into effect, we were scrubbed from everyone’s minds. This kingdom doesn’t exist to anyone but us and the demons right now.”
“Yes, but…after. Would she not meet you and care for you?”
His smile was grim. He lay beside me and gathered me into his arms. “I’m not sure she ever cared for me, in truth. She wanted certain things from me, and I wanted certain things from her. To escape, for one. We were compatible, and I’ve thought of her from time to time in these last agonizing years…” He paused and continued in a subdued voice. “But then you came. You told me that you saw your ex again, after you left, and felt nothing for him. It’s the same way for me. Suddenly, those feelings were just gone. There was nothing there. Not even a memory of anything there.”
“So you’re not cheating with me, then? And yes, I realize that was a question I should’ve asked before this, but… Well, I’m terrible, I guess.”
He chuckled. “She has certainly married another. Probably has children by now. She was a noble in high demand for her healing abilities. I would’ve helped her grow the plants that she used. I’m sure she found a noble faerie to take my place. So, no, I’m not cheating. That had absolutely nothing to do with my abstinence. I already told you why I was celibate.”
“Yes, but you lie.”
Hadriel ran in wearing an open white dress shirt and black slacks. He looked around wildly.
“Finley! Finley, are you in here? Knock once or something if you are.”
Nyfain tensed. He got up and walked around the tapestry as I hurried to put my dress on.
“Oh!” Hadriel sagged, a hand to his chest. “Master, it’s you. Thank the goddess for her mercy. Finley hasn’t returned to her room, and she didn’t take the draught earlier, and…”
“She’s fine. But she’ll need to go back to her room now. It’s past time.”
“Yeah.” Hadriel looked at the couch lying on its back. “What happened here? Did you guys battle for dominance or something?”
Nyfain didn’t answer. Apparently he wasn’t a kiss-and-tell kinda guy.
“Knock once or something?” I grabbed my books and walked out from behind the tapestry. “Why wouldn’t I just yell for you?”
Hadriel spread his hands with his eyebrows raised. “Maybe you had a gag or something, I don’t know. It’s the only thing that came to me. Come on. I’m actually enjoying myself for once. I’ve had three demons ask me to engage in sexual relations, and I have turned them all down.” He puffed up his chest. “I feel like a new man. Did you hear me just there? Sexual relations. I didn’t even say fucking. My mama would be proud.”
“Their lack of effect on the staff will be noticed,” Nyfain said softly, taking the books from me. He looked at the titles as we walked toward Hadriel. He paused on the one about frogs before sliding an inquisitive glance my way.
“What? I opened the book, and there was a pretty frog. I thought I’d read it.”
Nyfain gave me a lopsided grin. He didn’t say anything as he gave the books to Hadriel.
“Oh good, I get to be the donkey. Fantastic.” He took the books. “And not everyone is immune. Only the people who aren’t huge blabbermouths.”
“Finley showed up, and things changed. It’ll be noticed.” Nyfain kissed me before turning. “Stay safe. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
When he was gone, Hadriel walked me to the tower.
“Did you guys get it on when he was in that state?” Hadriel asked.
“Yeah,” I said, my voice breathy. “He looks super hardcore and sexy right now.”
“Finley, love, that wasn’t his blood streaked on his chest.”
“We fucked in the blood of his enemies.”
Hadriel turned to me with wide eyes and a crooked smile. “My goodness, look at you! I like it. That man is absolutely nuts, and anyone that is with him has to be nuts as well. I am much too sensible for a guy like him. But crazy is a good look on you.”
I rolled my eyes as we reached the tower.
“And that dress looks gorgeous on you. It’s really fitting. Your hair is an absolute mess, but besides that, you’re very striking.”
“Enjoy your party.”
“Well, thank you. I think I might this time. I really think I might.”
He lit two candles for me and then wished me good night.
Later that night, I startled awake. Strange sounds had permeated my dreams—a growl followed by snuffling noises. A spark of pain had ignited in my middle, and my animal had jerked and rolled. I sat up in the stillness, listening, taking a deep breath.
The growl was soft, ending in a strange ticking noise. The snuffling sounded at the base of my door, down by the crack.
Tingles of apprehension lodged in my chest. I pulled back the covers and draped my feet over the side before standing. My nightgown slid down my legs to stop at my calves.
The snuffling came again, and another flare of pain blossomed in my middle.
What is that? I asked my animal.
How the fuck should I know? I can’t see through doors any more than you can.
I mean the pain. That’s not from the bond, is it?
How are you this obtuse?
If you were a separate being, I would punch you right in the mouth. Also, is that a no?
I could feel her rolling her eyes. It is a no. It’s being caused by that creature outside of our door. It needs to be killed, but not by you, because it won’t wait around until you drag it by the neck toward a sword.
I shook my head and crossed the room to the dagger Hadriel had brought me from the armory. It was a little smaller than the one I was used to carrying. A little lighter. A lot sharper. I could wreak all sorts of trauma with this little baby.
Still, I’d learned my lesson. I was not going out to meet that thing if I didn’t have to.
As I went to turn, movement caught my eye. Two people were walking outside my window, beyond the garden area. A man and a woman. They were probably ten yards apart, walking the same direction at exactly the same pace. They stopped when I noticed them, staring up into my window. There they stood, watching me watching them.
The creature at my door laughed in a low, terrifying tone. Somehow they were connected, these creatures. They could feel each other, or maybe they could feel the effect they were having on me. Whatever it was, their teamwork would have me outnumbered, and their goal was fear-based pain.
My heart sped up. Something clicked in my mind. Locked into place, like when Nyfain had first entered me. Like when I’d handled my first everlass plant as a ten-year-old.
I tightened my grip on my dagger. The creature at my door snuffled. It might’ve been smelling my fear, which was rolling off me, but I wondered if it could also smell my determination.
Because I was done with the wilting flower routine. Done with it. I had never been a wilting flower. I would not strive for mediocrity. And if that got demons on my ass, then I’d kill them. Let the demon king come. Fuck him. We all had to die sometime, and I would die taking a stand.
I just had to learn how…