“This is the mark of the Brianal Guard; we knew she had this one. The black mark was put to it when she was striped. Once Mel gives her part of the ritual, the black mark will disappear with her reinstatement. The second mark is of her fae heritage and her lineage. It signifies that she is a warrior fae. Her family has been fighting and protecting the Brianal Court since magic was first used. The last is a surprise. I don’t think I’ve seen this mark since…well, I actually don’t remember when. This is the mark of the Black Knights.”
~Chapter 4~
Tess walked toward the bar. She tended there three nights a week for the extra cash. The place was in a horrible location, but the owner was a good friend and she liked helping him out.
Her belly was still tender. She knew that it was not really healed, but it had to do for now.
She thought of the man who had healed her and then of the kiss.
Her body shuddered at the thought of the way his mouth fit over hers, the way his tongue slid along hers. Heat from him still warmed her, made her feel things she had not felt in centuries.
Opening the door to the bar, she stood until her eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness. This was by far the weirdest place she had ever worked.
There were the usual mixed drinks and beers on tap. The bar did not own a blender, so fruity drinks and daiquiris were not on the menu. The long bar had some stools, but mostly it catered to the people who stood near it. It was not a place with a lot of ambience; they served liquor.
“'Bout time, bitch. I told you to be here three minutes ago. You know how much I hate to be put off.”
“Fuck off, you old fairy. I’ll be here when you see me fucking walk in the door and not a minute before.”
When Roger Clement scooped her up into a big bear hug, she squealed. This was a greeting that they had been doing since they met some two hundred years ago.
Roger was fae, not a warrior fae like her, but the normal, run of the mill type—if they tended to run near the three hundred pound area and were almost eight feet tall, that is. They had met when she was just a trainee in her father’s troop.
Roger, thank goodness, had found her just after she had been told that her family was dead fifteen years ago and she had been a little out of her mind with grief. He and his family had been looking for her for several days, having just found out about the murders themselves.
Her rage was palatable and Roger had let her beat on him until she fell over from
exhaustion. They had both taken and given a few punches before it was over. Then he had picked her up, gave her a good shake, and took her to his home to heal. It was there that she met Athropos, Clothos, and Lachesis; the Sisters Three, or the Fates.
When she had awakened they were in her room talking about her. And Roger was lying on
the bed with her.
When she turned to glare at him he just grinned and ran his finger down her arm. “Don’t worry your pretty little head, warrior. You are not my type and you well know it. I prefer my lovers to have much more equipment below the waist than you currently have. And the more, the better, if you know what I mean.” He wiggled his brows at her and she could not help but laugh.
“Good. You’re awake.” One of them, Clothos Tess found out later, said as she sat on the bed too. “How are you feeling? Better, I hope. We’re sorry about your loss. We loved your family very much. We’re the Fates, Tess, and have a need for your services. You will begin working for us as soon as we can get a blade made for your size. I’ve never met a woman who was your height before. Anyway, when the blades are done, we’ll begin your training.”
“No. I don’t want to work for any more otherworldly beings. But thanks for asking. Wait, you didn’t, so never mind. I appreciate you taking me in, fae, but I have to get going. My grandmothers will need me.”
“Your paternal family dying was a necessity, Tess. Their deaths will be avenged, I promise.
You’re going to get through this, but we are in need of your services now,” Athropos said sadly.
“A necessity for whom? You? The queen? I tried to tell her and she wouldn’t listen to me.
My family would be alive today if she had gotten her head out of her ass and did what she promised. But she was too in love with that mate of hers to listen. Now look, they’re all dead.”
“So is her child, her daughter. She was tricked like all the others. You were not. That is why we need you. Black magic doesn’t touch you. And because of that, you will lead our army of warriors. The Black Knights.”
“No. I have things I want to do. I’ve been a guard for too long and I want to live my life for a change.”
“I’m afraid you have no choice in the matter, Tess. You have been chosen,” Athropos said just before she had touched Tess and burned the mark into her arm.
That had been fifteen years ago. Fifteen years of fighting wars with other beings, fifteen years of strife and death. Fifteen years of bringing order to the realm she had once vowed to detest. Tess had been working to keep the peace in Melody’s realm and the queen was not aware of who it was that kept her safe.
The Fairy Queen, the bar she worked, was busy for a Wednesday night. Tess mixed drinks from five o’clock until eleven without stopping. She decided she needed a breath of fresh air and walked outside to get it.
Tess felt him the moment she shut the door behind her. Damn it all to hell and back, she thought. Why did this man keep showing up when she had no way to run?
“Whatever you want, I don’t want it, I can’t afford it, and it’s too fattening anyway. Go away,” she said to Nathaniel as she turned to go back inside.
“We never finished our talk. You…sidetracked us. I wanted to know what you knew about
the men in the bank.” He stepped out of the shadows and began walking toward her. He was so beautiful.
Nathaniel’s light hair looked bright in the moonlight, highlighting the streaks of gold and red. His eyes looked black in the night until he got closer, then they became as brilliant and bright as a summer sky. Looking into them sent shivers down her spine. When he smiled—which had not been much when she was around—his teeth gleamed brightly in the moonlight. His mouth, she knew, was not as soft as it looked, but it was no less delicious tasting. His full lips were sensual and fit nicely over hers when he had kissed her. The width of his shoulders was wide and she could see herself hanging onto them when he took her.
Even at her height he still towered over her a good four inches, making her feel delicate and tiny when he was standing close. His cock was long and thick and her mouth watered when she thought of it pressed against her again as he had done this morning. Need rippled through her and she did not want to think about what they could do to one another if they were to let loose.
As much as she wanted to tease him again she knew that doing so now would not end with just a kiss, but with him taking her, taking her hard against the wall, on the ground, and against any surface that would hold them. Drawing in a shaky breath she realized that he was standing a mere foot away from her and she wanted him as badly as he wanted her.
“You should go. I have to work and you are…you’re a distraction I don’t need right now,”
she said, and hated the way her voice sounded breathy and soft.
“You’ve been a distraction to me since I inhaled your scent again a few days ago. I can’t think about anything but having you. I want to be inside of you, deep and hard. I want to fuck you until neither of us can walk then lay you down and fuck you again. No amount of jerking off has relived the thought of you taking me into your mouth, my coming down the back of your throat while you swallow every drop of me. I want to pull your nipples into my mouth and suckle them until you come, then I want to lick your clitoris over and over until you have filled me with your cum. Christ, Tess, I’ve never wanted a woman as badly as I do you.” He ground his hard cock into her, taking her breath away in the process.
His dark, heavy voice made her wet; his words made her wetter. When she put out her hands to push him away and go into the bar, he pulled her close and kissed her.
His mouth did not kiss as much as take; he did not take so much as conquer; he did not conquer so much as claim.
She knew that he was moving them, taking them somewhere other than outside of the bar.
When she felt the mattress touch the back of her legs she let him lead her down to it and cover her with his body. She could not think beyond having him touch her, his bare skin moving along hers.
His mouth never left hers, but their hands were no less busy. As he opened her thighs and pressed between them she ran her nails down his back and grabbed at his shirt to pull it up over his head. Breaking the kiss long enough to remove his shirt, he took the sides of her tee, ripped it open and then did the same to her bra. Her breasts bounced with the movement and he watched them with hunger in his eyes.
Standing now, he looked down at her and smiled, his fangs long and his eyes dark with
need. Licking her lips, she looked up at him and ran her finger down his erection before she looked back up at his eyes.
“Take off your pants for me, agent. I want to see your cock before you bury it in me.” He groaned and started to unbuckle his belt. His movements were slow and deliberate. He was teasing her and she was too needy to appreciate it.
Sitting up, she moved his hands and began working the buttons on his jeans open and kissed each inch of his skin as she exposed it. His hard cock lay to the side and working her finger over the rigid shaft, she moved it to the opening of his pants. When it was where she wanted it, she pulled his briefs down and licked the purple head as she continued to open the last button.
“Christ, woman. Your mouth needs to take me, now.”
Moving the pants down over his ass and just below his balls, she cupped him from the rear and opened her mouth wide over him, taking him into her heat.
He was so wide she could barely hold him all, and the crown was so thick. Pulling back she heard him growl, but wanted to taste all of him and licked her way down his vein to the dark nest of curls. She had shown him this in her thoughts and did not realize how well she had imagined him.
His fingers laced in her hair and she felt him guide her back to the head. The stream of pre cum nearly had her come with anticipation and she lapped it into her mouth with a hungry suckle. He tasted like his blood; hot, spicy, and hers.
Wrapping her hand around him, she began to pump him hard as she took him into her mouth again. Over and over she swirled her tongue over him, teasing the tiny eye with the tip, moaning when she felt more of him spill into her.
“I want to come here, come down your throat, but I want to feel your body come all over my cock too. Stop now, baby, before I spill my seed this way.”
Reluctantly she took her mouth off his cock and lapped once more at the head for another taste. She lay back on the bed when he reached down and took off her jeans. When she was naked he stood over her and looked at every inch of her.
“You’re beautiful. I don’t know if I can be gentle this time. My need to be in you is
overwhelming. I want to fuck you until you scream, till we both scream.”
“Do it. Fuck me hard, Nathaniel. Please.” She opened her legs wide and let him see how badly she wanted him; her pussy was drenched and needy. Reaching down, she opened her
nether lips wider and began to play with her clit while he watched. She knew she was only making him harder, but Christ, she thought, her body needed to come.
She felt him move her hands and, before she could sit up to see what he was doing, his tongue pushed inside of her. Suckling him for those precious few moments and then playing with herself had made her too close and his tongue threw her into a tailspin and out of control.
“Nathaniel!” she screamed as she came, her hips bucked, nearly knocking him off her.
Panting hard and wanting more she grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled him up her and to her mouth. Even as he settled his cock at her entrance, she wrapped her legs around his hips and surged up, hard and fast. He slammed into her as she rocked up again. She came again, her body tightening around his thickness; the pain/pleasure of him being so long and wide was amazing.
Rocking into her again, she felt him still for a moment then rock again, harder this time as he came inside of her. Over and over he pulsed his hot cum into her; over and over he said her name as he did.
Finally, he collapsed on top of her. And just when she thought he was getting too heavy he rolled to his back, taking her with him.
She sat up slightly, almost too tired to move, and looked at him. His fangs were biting into his lower lip. She could tell that he was hungry, his need to feed from her as strong to her as if she was the needy one. She would feed him like this, the ability to mate now over as they were no longer coming.
“You didn’t feed. You didn’t feed from me when you came to the bar. I can feel your
hunger.” She started to move up his chest to have him bite her, but his next words froze her in place.
“I didn’t want to. We’re not going to become mated or bonded vamps. This will be enough for me until I have to go back to Virginia.”
~Chapter 5~
Nathaniel woke and could not remember where he was for a few seconds. The room was
black as pitch and he could not make out anything familiar. Finally, he remembered that he had gone to see Tess and had ended up back here in his bed. Smiling, he settled back on the bed to reach for Tess.
She was gone. And she had been gone for some time, as the sheets were cold and the room was chilled. Reaching out to find her he met with a hard wall and frowned.
Picking up his cell phone he saw that he had two missed calls and a message. Turning on the bedside light, he dialed voicemail.
“It’s Tess. I’m going back to work. Then tomorrow I’m going to my other place for a few weeks. I guess we won’t see each other before you leave. It’s been great. Well, bye, and thanks for the good time.”
He pulled the phone from his ear and stared at the thing before he redialed the message again. “Thanks for the good time?” What the hell was that supposed to mean?