Barbarian Prince (17 page)

He leaned closer, lowering his voice. “My theory for why he broke with tradition is that
he
was not the true heir—and this is something that must never, never be repeated because it could bring the realm down! I think that, although Drak the Red accepted him as such when he found him and brought him to Aiper that he eventually realized it was a mistake and he’d taken another man’s son as his heir.

“
I do know that until the day he died, Drak the Red searched for other sons. I think that, once he realized that it was not his own bloodline that would inherit from him, he was determined to usurp the changeling that was his namesake and replace him with the true heir. Drak the Dark refused to take a chance that he might repeat that mistake and bring another man’s son to
his
throne.

“
So he kept the woman and she bore a son for him—Drak the Fair—and then a daughter—and
still
he would not return her to her people because she had bewitched him long before she had born his first child. By the time she became pregnant a third time, however, Drak the Dark had begun to worry about the mother’s influence on his son. He was afraid the influence of a woman would weaken him.

“
I believe he was also worried that she would bear a second son and that might lead to civil war in time between the two heirs to the throne, that it might divide the realm.

“
He decided to send her back and she tried to flee with the children.”

Noelle struggled against the lump in her throat. “What happened?”

“
They died,” Drak growled from behind them.

Noelle whipped a horrified look at him, wondering just how much he’d heard.

“
This
is how you repay me for allowing you the freedom to roam the castle? You slip off to gossip about matters that are no concern to you?” He gave her a hard look and transferred his gaze to the teller. “And you, old man! I should charge you with treason and have the flesh flayed from your back and your tongue cut out!”

Noelle was so horrified she felt downright faint. It was her fault! She’d convinced the poor old man to talk to her and now Drak was going to do horrible things to him!

It was a combination of guilt, protectiveness for someone she felt was weaker than her, impulse and sheer stupidity that inspired Noelle’s next move.

She stepped between Drak and the old man. “Don’t you even
think
about it, you bully! He didn’t say anything treasonous! It can’t be treasonous just because you don’t like it! I’m sorry about your mother. I’m really, really sorry that happened, but don’t blame him! It’s my fault he talked about it!”

Drak sent her a look as if she’d grown two heads.

“
For once you and I are in complete agreement,” he growled, abruptly seizing her and tossing her across his shoulder. “And it’s pass time I taught you some respect for your monarch!”

Jules screamed and ran at Drak, pounding on him with his fists. “Put her down! You put her down! Don’t you dare hurt her!”

Drak did set her down—and he gave her a deadly look that took all the strength out of her knees. “You wait here. Don’t move … or you
will
regret it!”

He snatched Jules up under one arm and hauled him from the room, popping the child on his butt when he continued to fight.

He set Jules down when they reached the door to the vault. Crouching down in front of the child, he manacled his arms to his sides and pulled him against his chest until he stopped weeping so hard and fighting. When he’d calmed down, Drak held him away, forcing the child to meet his gaze. “A man who harms a woman is no man at all, son,” he growled. “A man who harms
any
innocent who is too weak and unskilled to defend themselves is not a man. He is a monster and I am a man. Man to man, I give you my word I will not harm her.”

Jules sniffed. “You promise?”

“
Yes, Jules.” He studied his son for a long moment. “As your father I could not be more proud of any child of mine than I am of you at this moment. That was a brave and noble thing that you tried to do.” He paused to allow that to sink in. “That was also a display of poor judgment that distresses me no end. I am twice your size, son. If I had been any other man you might easily have been hurt very badly, or worse … and if I see that sort of poor judgment again there will not be a lecture. You will be punished.”

Again he paused. “As your sovereign, I am outraged at your betrayal. I expect your unwavering loyalty at all times. Is that understood?”

Jules gaped at him, nodding.

“
Good! Because if you ever betray me again, the consequences will be five lashes across the bare buttocks—publicly. Understood?”

Jules swallowed with an effort. “We didn’t know we wasn’t allowed to go and talk to the teller,” he said after a moment. “You wouldn’t hurt him, would you?”

Drak shook his head. “Child! What did I just say to you?”

Jules frowned. “But you threatened to do horrible things to both of them.”

“
Well, they both deserve to be punished—and they will be. Noelle knew she shouldn’t discuss me and so did the teller. They will not be injured, but I can guarantee they will regret discussing things they should not have.”

“
What did you do with Jules?” Noelle demanded angrily when Drak returned without the child, grabbed her and tossed her across his shoulder as he had before. Turning and striding swiftly along the corridor to the stairs, he began to mount the treads in a rapid ascent.

“
You should be concerned about your own hide,” he growled.

Fear tingled along Noelle’s spine. “What are you going to do?”

“
I’ll let your imagination work on that.”

OMG! Not that!

Thankfully, the rapid ascent distracted her and made it impossible for her imagination to take over and scare her witless. She was afraid to even move once he began to mount the stairs, fearful she might fall off his shoulder and plunge headfirst into the stone floor below, or overset him and make both of them roll to the bottom of the stairs.

She didn’t know whether feel hopeful or more frightened when, instead of leaving the stairwell at the first landing, he continued to the floor where his suite lay, strode purposefully down the corridor and into the suite before he slammed and bolted the door. He set her on her feet.

“
Strip,” he said grimly.

Noelle gaped at him, blinking. “What?”

“
Everything.”

“
But ….”

He took a step closer. “Don’t make me say it again—or do it for you. You won’t like it.”

Noelle’s eyes widened. She glanced beyond him, gauging the distance to the door.

Noelle’s survival instincts warred with logic and hope. A wild idea of dashing past him and finding a place to hide vied with the certainty that she would never manage to get by him and also get the door unlatched and open, let alone outrun him and find a place to hide.

She’d probably only succeed in pissing him off more.

And she couldn’t accept that he would truly harm her. She might not like what he had in mind, but she couldn’t make herself believe she was in any actual danger.

She managed to convince herself of that right up until the point when she’d removed all of her clothes and he chained her to the bed—and not by one ankle as he had before.

This time after commanding her to lie down, he climbed on the mattress, straddled her, and then took her wrists and lifted both arms straight up over her head. She tried to resist then, but it was too late. He had no trouble at all forcing her arms to the bed over her head and manacling both wrists together.

She tried to bring her arms down when he released them. Discovering she couldn’t, she twisted to look up at her wrists and discovered that he’d manacled her to a short chain leading from the headboard.

It wasn’t as if she hadn’t noticed the chain before, but she’d thought it was just the point where the other had been attached, the long chain he’d manacled around her ankle when he’d first brought her.

She supposed she should have spent more time examining the damned thing when she had the chance. Then she would at least have had some inkling that he could chain her to the bed and do anything he wanted to her.

While she was making that discovery and tugging at her wrists—just in case she was wrong and the chain was just snagged—Drak caught one thigh, lifted it, and fastened something around her leg just above the knee. The distinct clink of metal snapped her attention from her wrists to her leg just as he grabbed the other leg and shoved it upward and into another manacle strap.

When he’d finished adjusting them, both legs were drawn upward and spread so wide she could feel cool air wafting all along her cleft.

She looked down at herself and the position he’d manacled her in, too shocked to fully assimilate the fact that he’d bound her so thoroughly and in a position that left her completely open to him and vulnerable.

Insanely, heat began to churn in her belly.

Trying to ignore the strange mixture of warmth and uneasiness and the escalating tempo of her heart beats, she glanced at Drak after studying the parted lips of her sex for several unnerving moments. She discovered that he was slowly stripping, his gaze fixed on the dark pink, gaping—to her mind anyway—lips of her sex.

She swallowed with an effort, wondering if it would do any good at this point to try to talk her way out of whatever he had in mind.

She was pretty sure she had a fair idea what he had in mind, but she was afraid to trust that it was anything that simple and unthreatening.

She supposed humiliation might be part of it.

And it would certainly be extreme torture if he simply left her like this.

But he was stripping and she didn’t think he planned to simply leave her.

She’d never actually had the chance to study him. The sex they had before had been mostly in bed at night when the room was dim, and it had been too frenzied to allow a lot of time to simply look and admire.

He had a beautifully sculpted chest and torso, rippling with muscle—and massive well defined arms.

And two cocks, she discovered with a stunning jolt of shock when he pushed his trousers down and straightened.

How the hell had she missed that?

She didn’t think it was an accident. He must have known if she only had one place for a cock that that was what she was accustomed to.

She gaped at them, watching both lift in erection.

The ‘salute’ redirected her attention to his face since both members seemed to be looking up. She didn’t especially like the glitter in his eyes, particularly since the discovery of two cocks had brought home the fact that she wasn’t dealing with a human male. “I … uh … didn’t know you had two.”

“
And you only have one womb—unlike our women.” He shrugged. “But I’ll figure it out.”

Noelle gaped at him, struggling not to think about the other hole he was clearly referring to.

He stunned her by striding past the bed as soon as he’d discarded all of his clothing and heading into the bathroom.

She head the water rush from the showerhead.

All the moisture in her nether regions dried up from overexposure.

But chill tendrils of air wafted around her like ghostly fingers, teasing her most sensitive areas. Her heart rate steadied, but at an elevated rate that pumped the blood into her nipples and her clit. They began to throb while she lay listening to the water running, waiting, knowing he had every intention of taking full advantage of her helplessness.

Almost hoping he would.

Because she wanted to get it over with, she assured herself.

And her imagination took over and began to tease her with the things he might do and her nipples throbbed harder and the throat of her sex clenched and unclenched, secreting moisture to replace what she’d lost. And her clit seemed to swell.

Far from having relaxed from sheer boredom or weariness while he lingered interminably in the shower, Noelle was so worked up by the time he emerged, bringing with him a cloud of steam, that she could hardly focus on anything beyond her throbbing nipples and clit.

She shivered, but it was in anticipation. “I’m cold,” she complained, to save face, because she didn’t want him to know she wanted him to do … something.”

He lifted his brows. “You won’t be long.”

Noelle swallowed audibly.

Drak dropped the towel and moved to the bed. Settling on his knees between her parted thighs, he stroked her legs and touched the chains. “I can see you’re wondering about these,” he murmured. “No doubt you’ll think it a curious thing but when we kiss one of our women they fall into a trance-like state. Rather like a dead thing … except still warm.”

Noelle couldn’t help it, her eyes widened in shock.

He snorted. “Oh they’re aware—very much—they just go limp. The supports make it easier to service them.” He stroked his hand down and plucked at her throbbing clit with this fingers. “In your case—well, very different.”

He shifted. Settling on his belly between her legs, he lowered his head and covered the tip of one breast with his mouth, pinching the throbbing nipple with the edge of his teeth. The jolt that went through Noelle made her jerk all over in spite of her efforts to ignore his teasing. Her belly clenched—hard—when he ceased raking with his teeth and began to suck the abused flesh.

He teased that nipple so long she realized what was in store for her.

He had no intention of making this easy or quick. He meant to torment her to teach her a lesson.

He wanted to her know he could do anything he wanted to her.

Unfortunately, she didn’t realize just how patient he was. He focused on that one sensitive point until every nerve ending in her body was screaming for attention, until it felt like her other nipple and her clit would explode with the pulse of blood. He alternated between pulling at the nipple with mouth and tongue and raking it with his teeth until she was nearly mindless.

And just when she thought she was going to lose her mind, he shifted and caught hold of the throbbing twin.

She yelped, nearly passed out at the sensation that shot through her.

He ignored her distress.

For hours, it seemed to her, he teased one nipple and then the other until her throat was bone dry from panting and her sex was awash with the moisture seeping from the walls of her sex.

She was just relieved, she thought, when he pulled away at last, thinking he meant to give her some respite, hopeful he might finish it.

Instead, he scooted back and caught her clit as he had her nipples. She nearly passed out that time.

She nearly came, but he made it clear he wasn’t going to allow that. After sucking at the sensitive bud until she began to groan and shake, he stopped as abruptly as he’d started. Shifting to the bed beside her, he contented himself with stroking her trembling flesh for a while, allowing her to cool just enough that it was sheer torture when he started again.

After a while she lost track of time. It seemed to go on forever, for hours, until her body was so wracked with a combination of pleasure and pain that she almost felt feverish, delirious.

She’d lost all hope that he would do anything beyond torturing her sensitive areas with pleasure when he moved between her thighs and she felt the probe of his cock against the mouth of her sex. He caught her hips, holding her in place while he forced the thick head of his cock into the mouth of her sex.

She panted for breath, her heart hammering in her chest in anticipation—because she could do nothing but wait and hope he meant to end her torment.

Then she felt the probe of his other cock against her rectum.

Fortunately, she didn’t have the chance to tense and cause herself pain at the penetration. He entered in a swift motion, driving deeply along both channels at once and filling her until she feared for a handful of moments that he was going to rip her in half. She was so wet, however, that her body merely engulfed him, adjusting with an effort, but it did adjust rather than tear despite the burning sensation she felt.

And then he withdrew and she thought he meant to tease her more.

She was wrong.

Evidently he’d reached his limit. With barely a pause, he began to pound into her almost frenziedly. Her heart leapt. Her body climbed swiftly toward completion.

And then missed it entirely when he came—and then left.

Noelle was near to weeping when he started all over again. She struggled to ignore his efforts to arouse her, but it was a losing battle. For hours, days, weeks, a lifetime he brought her to the brink of completion and then left her hanging.

She hated him a while and loved him madly, desperately for a while. She begged. She cursed him. And then she begged some more.

Toward dawn, when she’d reached a point of exhaustion where she could barely respond anymore, he asked her if she thought she would be tempted to betray his trust again.

She lied and told him she’d learned her lesson.

That time when he drove into her, he kept thrusting until she reached her peak and came screamingly. And then passed out.

He was gone when she woke.

She was free of the restraints and so sore she couldn’t move without crying out.

Everything on her hurt.

She lay staring at the ceiling for a while, trying to decide if she hated him more and wanted to kill the bastard or loved him.

The frightening thing was that she was afraid she did love him and she’d enjoyed every minute of the torture even while she’d wavered between wanting to come and wanting to kill him for keeping her from her goal.

After sitting in the hot shower for an hour, Noelle thought she was going to have to crawl back to the bed. Much of the soreness was gone, but the heat of the shower had also drawn every ounce of strength from her muscles. Sighing, she dried off and hobbled back to the bed.

Drak brought her breakfast.

She ignored it and she ignored him.

“
Eat. You need to keep your strength up.”

Noelle jerked upright at that, staring at him in horror.

He missed the look. As soon as he’d spoken, he turned and left, closing the door firmly behind him.

She’d managed to dress herself and begun to pick at the food when there was a timid knock at the door and then Jules opened it and poked his head in, studying her worriedly.

“
You alright?”

Noelle shuddered. She still didn’t know exactly how she felt about what had happened, but she didn’t really want to think about it. “Sure.”

Jules frowned, glanced up and down the corridor and then entered the room and bolted the door. “He said I’d get a beatin’ if I tried to help you again,” he muttered.