All the King's Men (17 page)

The
morang
was not a water creature. As though
reading her thoughts, the animal poked a small, slippery head from the
carapace, its milky-white eyes staring unblinkingly at her. It drew back when
she reached out to touch it but part of its smooth forehead remained protruding
and it tilted its head at an odd angle to continue peering at her.

“Now how did you get in here?” Caressing its shell with the
pad of her thumb, she placed it at the edge of the pool where the little
creature immediately poked thin legs from underneath its carapace and took off
at a rapid trot toward the back of the cave.

Intrigued, she paused for a moment then followed the gentle
tug of a current to the left. Her path led her straight to the mouth of an
underwater tunnel close to the twin waterfalls. It seemed large, as wide across
as a broad-shouldered man and disappeared into the side that faced the valley
rather than the mountain. The current was strong here but instead of heat, it
spilled forth an ice-cold flow that chilled her to the bone.

Holy Moon Gods!

If the
morang
had gotten in without being much worse
for wear, she could probably get out the same way. She’d endure looking as
haggard and wet as the pitiful creature if it meant finding a way out of this
wretched predicament. Surely the Fates couldn’t punish her for failing to mate
with the king once she was off this planet.

Hope blossomed in her chest, setting off a thunderous
pounding in her temples. Judging by the slant of the tunnel, it had to lead
outside the castle walls. The current was still cold, even after pouring
through the hot rock of the volcanic mountain, which meant the water’s entrance
wasn’t far off.

As the possibilities drifted through her mind, a hot, needy
groan reached her ears. The raw, unashamedly male sound drew her attention
instantly. She turned just in time to see Domenic dive into the pool. Her
breath hitched in her throat. She paused to admire the lean lines of his body
as he split the surface of the water and disappeared beneath. But it wasn’t his
nudity or the elegance of his dive that had an ecstatic whimpering moan lodging
in her throat.

It was the sight of Thor grabbing Kirel’s waist and pulling
him against his body then bringing his mouth down to stifle whatever protest or
biting remark Kirel had been about to make.

She hadn’t known kisses could be so torrid, so unabashedly
carnal. Thor seemed to give no thought to gentleness and the rough tenderness
he exuded had Nelina’s pussy heating in delicious envy. One hand held Kirel by
the back of the neck. The other slid down to cup the man’s ass and bring him up
closer to Thor’s erection. Thor had lowered his face mask and the loose fabric
hung around his neck, a dark shadow against the rest of his uniform.

Gods, she’d never been so aroused by witnessing a kiss!
Kirel stood naked, having stripped as he’d been instructed. From her vantage
point, Nelina could make out his rigid organ pressing hard against the other
man’s groin. They thrust against each other, grinding together, forming the
hottest sight Nelina had ever seen.

It was as though they performed just for her, a raptly
attentive audience of one. The more engaged they became, the wetter she grew
until the moisture slicking her labia was rapidly discernable from the water
that filled the pool.

“Show-offs,” Domenic whispered intimately in her ear. His
voice startled her. She’d been so absorbed in what she was witnessing she
hadn’t heard him come up behind her.

He pressed himself against her back, making his reaction to
the forbidden kiss clear. He was as aroused as she was. She wasn’t sure why
that thought should send her over the edge but it did!

She rocked back and forth, rubbing her ass over Domenic’s
erection, using the currents shifting through the water to guide her. The
contrast of the ice-cold flow and scorching heat emanating from Domenic’s body
set off an immediate, all-encompassing response in her own body.

“You should see them together, Nelina. I mean
really
see them.” His voice was hoarse, raw with the edge of lust. “They’re
beautiful.”

She nodded and ran the tip of her tongue over her suddenly
dry lips. “I want to,” she murmured. “More than anything.”

Kirel knew what Thor was doing and it wouldn’t work. No way
could the man distract him from Nelina. Not even with his thick cock grinding
against Kirel’s or his tongue sweeping those maddening circles inside his
mouth, or his hand dipping between the crease of his ass cheeks to push against
the tight sphincter and slide inside—

All right, maybe that last one had him. He groaned despite
himself and bit down on Thor’s lower lip, hard enough to elicit a stunned gasp
from the Guardian’s throat.

Bastard
, Kirel thought.
You’re not the only one
who can take charge.

He knew why Thor was angry and truth be told he couldn’t
bring himself to blame the man. The Tradition dictated the Guardians had to
train the future queen to be able to pass the three Trials that had been
devised just for the king’s mating ceremony. They had to teach her to be
receptive to the awe-inducing effects of pure lust. In return, she’d be
prepared to share herself body and soul with the king.

As legend had it, only if the queen eagerly accepted the
beauty of carnal passion would the Fates grant the king an heir. A willing
queen was a fertile queen.

But the heir had to be conceived with royal seed. When the
Guardians took Nelina, they were careful to use the slick lubricant that would
prevent their sperm from quickening in her womb. Kirel would have taken no such
precaution.

That selfish act alone could have doomed Shivar. And all of
Aris.

He’d thought he could handle training Nel but the more time
he spent in her presence, the more his self-restraint dissipated. Last night’s midnight
trek to her chambers had been reckless at best. Traitorous at worst.

Well, perhaps it had even been driven by the part of him
that wanted to sabotage the Tradition’s well-laid plans. It might have worked
too, if he didn’t love her so damn much.

Thor’s breath came faster, hot inside Kirel’s mouth. He
rocked against Kirel in earnest, his hard shaft nudging Kirel’s erection
through the thick material of his pants.

Tired of taking orders and following others’ lead, Kirel
deftly pulled on the strings binding Thor’s uniform pants tightly around his
hips then hooked his thumbs inside the waistband, yanking the annoying garment
down. The material caught on the head of Thor’s cock. Kirel wriggled it and
Thor’s erection sprung free.

Abandoning the kiss, Kirel dropped to his knees in one
smooth glide. His hands tightening around Thor’s waist, he turned his head and
met Nelina’s gaze. The depth of lust in her bottomless blue eyes nearly had him
staggering. He’d never seen her so aroused. Her pale face was flushed with a
crimson sheen that traveled down the elegant column of her neck to stain the
top of her breasts.

Domenic cupped both perfect mounds in his palms as he
murmured something in her ear. Whatever he said had her moaning. The husky
sound of her desire was drowned out by the cascading waterfalls but Kirel could
imagine it as though she’d moaned in his ear.

She looked straight at him, nodding, giving him permission
to do what he intended. The knowledge that she was getting off on watching him
with Thor had a predatory grin tugging at his lips.

Thor had no idea what he was in for.

The man’s cock bobbed thick and long in front of his
abdomen. A drop of pre-cum glistened at its tip. The solid shaft looked carved
out of pale marble, complete with delicate blue veins that throbbed and pulsed
beneath the tender skin.

Kirel glanced up past the massive shaft and met Thor’s gaze.
The Guardian’s breathing was labored, his lips swollen from Kirel’s kiss.

“Gods, Kirel, you don’t have to—”

Before he could finish the thought, Kirel had taken the
man’s solid organ in his mouth all the way down to the base in a flawless move
that had his lips sliding over the heated flesh with relish. His gag reflex
engaged when Thor’s cock nudged the back of his throat but he forced himself to
relax and indulge his senses in the taste of the Guardian’s distinct flavor on
his tongue.

He’d never tongued a cock before. The zesty elixir of raw
male tasted much like he’d imagined yet infinitely different. Nelina had often
praised the length and girth of his own rod. She’d said he tasted salty,
faintly musky. In contrast, Thor was all tang and heady bitterness, pure
masculine pheromones and sharp, savage essence.

The wicked throb in Thor’s dick had Kirel licking and
fondling as though he’d been doing this all his life. He loved the grunts
escaping Thor’s throat. Cupping the man’s balls in the palm of his right hand,
he caressed them gently and tugged on the strip of skin from which they hung.

Having that much control over the Guardian who prided himself
on remaining in charge at all times was exhilarating. It excited the hunter in
him to know he could bring them all—Nelina, Thor, even Domenic given the
chance—to such heights of delicious ecstasy.

Steadying Thor by digging his fingers into the muscular
flesh of his hips, Kirel rammed the Guardian’s dick down his throat with a
frenzy of violent lust. The need had been building within him for days and now
that he had all three of them in such close proximity, he knew that simmering
desire was about to explode.

And when it did, Gods help them all. He feared no one in
this cavern would ever be the same again.

Entreating the Fates he despised for the strength he needed
to make it through the rest of this training session, Kirel swirled his tongue
around the plump head of Thor’s cock. If he could only focus on his duty, he
might be able to keep his mind off the fact that even now he prepared to hand
Nelina over to another man.

For today, she could be his. They could
all
be his.

Thor’s cock slipped out of his mouth. Kirel couldn’t help
staring at the slick surface of the delicate skin flushed red with need, veins
straining against the surface. It was one of the most carnal sights Kirel had
ever seen. He stroked his palm against the rigid length of it, enchanted by the
way the flesh throbbed and pulsed beneath his touch.

Nelina’s body reacted the same way to his caress. Her pussy
flushed a deep pink and her tender sex lips fluttered with quivering urgency.
Her soft, curvy body was a perfect contrast to Thor’s muscular physique.

The sudden need to see them side by side, to touch them
both, flared within him in a heady rush.

“Nelina!” He bellowed her name, which rang out through the
interior of the cavern, a pulsing, living thing. It continued to echo long
after he’d closed his mouth, ringing out against the walls, imbuing the air
with the raw, primal energy swirling through him.

He turned his head and saw her standing in the middle of the
pool, her wet hair covering the side of her face Kirel could make out from where
he kneeled. For a brief moment, he thought perhaps despite the booming sound of
his cry she hadn’t heard his call.

Then she looked right at him. In her eyes shone the kind of
desperate, all-encompassing lust that took his breath away. Her breasts heaved,
the nipples hard and distended. That’s when he noticed the flush staining her
chest and the way her back arched, hovering on the brink of release.

Domenic still held her to him. His hand had disappeared
beneath the surface of the pool and Kirel knew exactly where his fingers were
lodged.

Jealousy settled like a ball of pure agony low in his gut.
It was unfair, he knew, considering his hand was still fisted around Thor’s
cock but he couldn’t help the animalistic urge to dive into the water and tear
Domenic’s fingers away from his woman’s cunt.

His woman.

Gods, he was a fool. Turning away before he could watch her
climax at the hand of another man, Kirel pressed a lingering kiss to the top of
Thor’s cock. He tasted the Guardian’s oozing essence as a drop of pre-cum
slipped from the tip, slicking Kirel’s lips.

Thor thrust his fingers in Kirel’s hair and yanked his head
up, forcing him to meet his gaze. “I can’t take much more.”

“Neither can I,” Kirel answered honestly. His balls ached
with the agony of arousal while his heart felt ready to shatter into a million
pieces at the slightest provocation. If this continued, his entire body would
splinter and crack, leaving behind a mere shell of what he’d once been.

Cool fingertips on his shoulder jerked his gaze on an angle
to look behind him into brilliant limpid blue eyes.

“I’m here.” Nelina’s throaty voice seemed to reach inside
him and yank him to his feet.

Kirel reached for her, helpless to resist. He rose, wrapped
an arm around her waist and hauled her to him, desperate to feel the soft
decadence of her body pressing against his rampant need.

“Why?” he whispered against her lips. “Why are you here,
Nel?”

“You called for me,” she answered breathlessly.

A haze of warm mist drifted off the waterfalls. It reached
out delicate, gauzy fingertips and enveloped them in a cocoon of wet heat.
Domenic and Thor stepped up on either side of them, forming a perfect circle of
decadent temptation.

“The Tradition brought you here,” Kirel corrected. “I just
happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

She tilted her head, her bottomless blue eyes darkening to a
navy hue. “Do you really believe that?”

It didn’t matter what he believed. The truth was, Nelina
wasn’t meant for him. She never would be. But right now she was in his arms.
Even if he had to share her with half of Aris, he’d gladly do so for a chance
at holding her, fucking her…loving her.