Vampire Enslavement (Lords of Bondage) (42 page)

He lifted himself and peered at her through sharp, suddenly alert eyes. “You’re in heat. You don’t need food. Only blood.”

“The heat must be over.” She was feeling more herself now. What a relief.

His reaction was thunderous. “The hell you say. What woman’s heat lasts a mere day?”

She chewed on her bottom lip, not sure what to say to the warrior lord. She wasn’t sure why he was taking it so badly, anyway. He acted like she was purposely depriving him of the week-long marathon of drinking and sex. “It’s over. I feel normal again. Can you not tell?”

He looked deeply into her eyes. “Your eyes aren’t glazed over anymore and the color is back to normal.” His disappointed expression turned thoughtful as he noticed the tightening of her nipples as they brushed against his chest. “Are you sure it’s over?”

She shifted underneath his body. He was still inside her. “I’m sure. Why are you mad?”

“I’m not mad.” He slid out of her and lay on his back. “I’ve just never heard of a heat lasting only a day. It’s not normal.”

“I’m not normal, Modez.” She was a mongrel with an abnormal cycle. She wasn’t supposed to be in heat at all.

He turned on his side and his eyes roamed over her naked body. “You’re a mess. Completely black and brown with stains. At least I made full use of my one day.”

Her body was dark with stains from her breasts to her ankles. She grimaced. How was she going to hide her tattooed ankles? She would have to find a tunic meant to be worn by a giant. Her sex was sore and her lower abdomen cramped. “You used me well.”

“I will use you again.” He traced her collarbone with his finger. “Remember, you are to serve as my blood whore whenever I wish it.”

“I remember.” She would have to lay with him whenever he got too demanding. She couldn’t risk him going to Diermont. “Allow me some time to recover. I’m no longer in heat and I’m feeling every bit of soreness from this night.”

His expression was smug and satisfied. “Indeed. I’ll give you a few days.” He touched his lips to hers before moving from the bed. “This will be an enjoyable arrangement for both of us. You’ll see.”

He dressed, gave her some clothing to wear, and left the room. She pulled on the oversized tunic. He obviously wanted to keep her marked body hidden from Diermont and the other warriors. She supposed she was Modez’s mistress now. At least in secret.

Kiera felt self-conscious as she made her way to the chamber that Druscilla shared with a few other females. “How are you faring?”

Druscilla wiped her red, tear filled eyes. “Fine, really. I don’t know why I’m so emotional this morning.”

Druscilla’s roommate, Slaine, rolled her eyes. “Tell her what happened in the dungeon, Dru.”

“What happened in the dungeon?” Kiera knew it must be bad to have upset Druscilla.

“It’s okay, really. I didn’t mind it.”

“What happened?” She wanted details, dammit.

Druscilla sniffed. “Well, this time the prince called another into the dungeon. Do you know the warrior named Gryphon?”

Kiera had to think awhile before she recalled him. Gryphon was one of Diermont’s most loyal warriors and often acted as his personal guardsman. He was severe in personality, much like Diermont. “What of him?”

“The prince made Gryphon whip me with a piece of barbed wire. When I was good and bloody, all the hybrids in the dungeon drank from me. They licked my skin dry of blood with their tongues. When I was clean, Diermont put a blindfold over my eyes and tied me to a stake.”

Kiera was horrified. She wanted Druscilla to stop talking. She didn’t wish to hear the rest of the story, but she sensed her friend needed to talk about it. “Go on.”

“Gryphon slathered me with jelly. The prince ordered him to leave, but I’m not sure he actually left the room. The next thing I knew, I was being poked with a cock. I’m not sure whose it was because of the blindfold.” Druscilla sniffed. “The prince made me guess which hybrid’s cock was inside me. I didn’t want to answer him. He struck my back with something hard. I don’t know what it was. It felt like a piece of wood. The prince said he would hit me with it again if I couldn’t answer his question correctly.” Druscilla gulped, tears threatening once again. “I tried to guess. I said it was Torin. I was wrong.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I didn’t know. So I guessed again. I said it was Gryphon. I was wrong again and the prince beat me. This went on awhile. I couldn’t give him the correct answer. Eventually the beatings knocked me out cold. Torin told me later that they tried to wake me by dumping buckets of ice water on me, but I never woke. He said it was a blessing. He said he tried to get the prince to stop the whole time it was happening. But he couldn’t.”

“So whose cock was inside you?” Kiera realized after she asked the question that it was insensitive of her. “I’m sorry, Dru. It doesn’t matter who it was.”

“I never knew,” Druscilla cried. “No one told me. I still don’t know. But the mother fucker was humongous. He ripped me apart, even with the jelly.”

Slaine, the roommate, looked angry. “I told Druscilla that she should go to Snotti and complain.”

“I can’t do that. You know I cannot. Snotti doesn’t know about the dungeon. If I spoke of it, the prince would have me killed.”

Kiera wondered if it was possible that Snotti was truly ignorant of the dungeon. Everyone at the villa seemed to know that particular secret, so how could that knowledge escape Snotti? “You have to end it. Let Diermont know you’ll not serve in the dungeon anymore.”

“I’ll be banished. Sent home in shame. I’ll be ruined.” Druscilla wiped the tears from her eyes. “I’ll be denied entrance to every mating ball of the Season if I go home in disgrace.”

Druscilla was already ruined. She wished she could convince her friend to leave voluntarily. “Please, Dru. You cannot continue this way. It will only get worse. What happens when the prince decides to use you? It will be painful for you, I fear.”

“I can handle the pain. I’m strong.” She smiled, although it was devoid of humor. “You cannot even see any scars. My body heals quickly. It is strange being used by someone who is not Torin, but I’m sure the prince chose someone worthy. I’m no whore.”

If Kiera managed to get away, she would come back for Druscilla. She would show her that she didn’t need a life at court. She didn’t deserve to be abused and mistreated. “It’s not worth it. It’s much better to be a spinster than a court harlot. Your parents would allow you to come back home.” That was an option Kiera didn’t have. She didn’t understand why Druscilla didn’t take it.

“No, Kiera. For people like us, there is no other option. I’ll serve the prince. Others will make bids for me, so when the prince no longer wishes to see me, I will accept one of those offers. I’ll be a rich man’s mistress. He will bite me when he uses me, as that is what males do when they fuck. Eventually a bite will take and I’ll be mated.”

Oh, if only it worked that way. The truth was, it only happened like that for a small minority of courtesans. Those were the lucky ones. “Dru. You don’t have to be a courtesan to get bites.”

“Right now I do. And so do you. You’ll be denied invitations to mating balls now that you’re a serf. Your only hope is to spread your legs for your master and convince him to bite you. Maybe you’ll get lucky.” Druscilla eyed Kiera’s long saffron tunic. “Have you taken my advice? The prince is already mated, so you’ll gain little by seducing him. But Modez is available. Or was.” Druscilla stretched her body and yawned. “I forgot. He has a mate named Gwyneth.”

Yes, Gwyneth. How had Kiera forgotten about Gwyneth? Kiera was mistress to a mated male. It didn’t matter that he refused Gwyneth. They were biologically compatible and he would eventually return to her bed. He would want heirs. She needed to end things with Modez. She needed to get away from him, away from the temptation. After all, his intentions toward her were not honorable. He had taken her body multiple times but hadn’t once used his mating fangs on her. Most males lacked that kind of control. But not Modez. He obviously didn’t wish to take a mongrel for a mate. She needed to let him go.

Kiera resolved to avoid Modez. But as it turned out, she needn’t have worried. She saw nothing of him for four straight days.

Chapter 28

She was in his bed again. Modez felt her long hair brush against his chest while her fingers trailed down his shoulders and the sides of his torso. Her lips pressed kisses against his throat and he anticipated her fangs would follow. “Go ahead, take it. I’ll give it to you and you’ll offer me something in return. You know what I want from you, my pet.” He didn’t mind feeding Kiera’s hunger as long as he got to have her again.

“I want you to bite me, Modez. Make me yours again.”

The voice was wrong. It was high pitched and whiny, not like Kiera’s at all. He opened one eye and saw a sight that frightened the shit out of him. His ex-mate was in his bed. He sat up and pulled the bedding to his waist to cover himself. He pushed Gwyneth away from him. She was lucky he didn’t throw her completely from the bed. “What are you doing here?”

“I want your bite so I can be your mate once more,” Gwyneth purred while flicking a long fingernail against his chest.

“I don’t want you. I’ll never give you my bite.” Hell, he hadn’t even bitten Kiera and resisting the urge had been one of the hardest things he had ever done.

“You encouraged my attentions a few moments ago,” Gwyneth said with a pout.

“I didn’t know it was you.” He had thought it was Kiera. He hadn’t seen her for days, and when he sensed an additional presence in the bed, he had foolishly thought his mongrel had missed him and planned to wake him with morning sex.

“I don’t believe that for a minute,” Gwyneth scoffed. “You told me to take what I wanted. What I want is you. You must have been dreaming of me.”

“You’re only featured in my nightmares, madam.”

“Nonsense. You enjoyed it just now when I touched and kissed you. You recognized my touch and you craved more. I watched your man part harden and lengthen when you became aware of my presence, so it appears you were having a nice dream about me. Very nice.”

Modez put his hand over his eyes. He was getting a headache. “I thought you were someone else.”

“Ridiculous. I am your mate. There is nobody else.” Her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized him more closely. “Have you taken a lover, Modez? I thought there was only Elsa and I know she isn’t here.”

“Modez has not taken any lovers, this I know.” Snotti came from out of nowhere to lurk in front of his face. “He turned down a number of perfectly good opportunities offered to him. He didn’t want to ruin a hybrid female. He asked Diermont to let him have a human slave to slake his lusts, but you know how we feel about human-hybrid sexual relations. He has no reason to deny you, Gwyneth.”

“I don’t care if Gwyneth is the only lady left on the planet. I’m not giving her my bite. End of story.”

“Diermont and I are tired of your stubborn streak. Gwyneth is very sorry and is willing to make it up to you. She is your mate. You have to do right by her and accept her.”

“I am eager to consummate our union.” Gwyneth raked her fingernails across the flesh of his stomach, drawing blood. “I will lay with you on a regular basis. It won’t be like last time.”

Gwyneth had never been an enthusiastic bed partner, even when their mating bond was strong. But it hardly mattered. He hadn’t forgotten her betrayal and he wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. “You need to leave my room and take your friends with you.” Gwyneth wasn’t the only one who didn’t belong. Princess Snotti and his cousin, Lasair Halloran, had no business being inside his chamber.

“You will not turn Gwyneth away this time.” Snotti’s eyes swirled with various shades of crimson and violet. She stared into his eyes. “You will bite Gwyneth. She is your mate and you desire no other.”

“You would use mind control on me?” Modez was shocked that Snotti would abuse her position as well as her talents. Snotti possessed the ability to force another to do her bidding by using her mind, but she was well aware that compelling a nobleman to do something against his will was unlawful.

“I will do whatever is necessary to protect my family. Modez, I love you the most out of all Diermont’s relations. Gwyneth is my dearest friend. I want the two of you to be as happy as I am with Diermont. You were once a most loving couple.”

Modez wondered how happy Snotti would be with her mate if she knew what he did in the dungeon with other females. “If you compel me to bite the bitch, I will kill you. I will not be enslaved to any female, and especially not one I despise.”

Snotti licked her lips in a nervous fashion. “You’re distressed. I know you don’t mean what you just said. You would never harm me.”

“Don’t try me. I don’t care who you are. I’ll fucking kill you if you use compulsion on me.” A bite would trap him into a relationship with Gwyneth again, one that was supposed to last for a lifetime. His life wouldn’t be worth living if he had to endure that hell with no way of escape.

Snotti placed her hands on both sides of Modez’s face and forced him to hold her gaze. Her eyes swirled and blazed as she repeated her earlier command. “Bite Gwyneth and make her yours again.”

Gwyneth bared her throat while Lasair helped hold Modez’s head in place. Modez tried to resist the magnetic pull of Snotti’s control, but he felt his will fading away. He told himself to close his eyes. That was all it would take to break the hold over him. He couldn’t do it.

“You will bite Gwyneth. She is your mate. The only one you want.”

He didn’t want her at all. There was nothing about Gwyneth that attracted him and he could honestly say he didn’t like the woman. Suddenly soft skin was at his mouth.
Bite her. Bite. Her.
They were chanting. His mind was fuzzy. Where was he? He felt a hand lower to his midsection where it wrapped around his cock.
Bite her. Accept your mate.
They continued to chant but he knew he didn’t want a mate. The hand squeezed his cock and fingers pressed his nostrils together, cutting off his air. He would suffocate. He opened his mouth to breathe. There was an obstruction there, a warm body.
Bite her. Bite.
He heard the instruction aloud but it also came from inside his mind. They wanted him to use his mating fangs. He felt them lengthen, felt them scraping against the female’s skin. Which female? His foggy mind wasn’t clear on her identity.
Bite. Bite.