Kept: An Erotic Anthology (29 page)

When Moth finally pulled away, her wings folded and she collapsed at my side. Her eyes were half-lidded, sated. A swallowing lethargy stole over me, and all I could do was lie still and look at her. Why had her gender ever mattered to me? She was so beautiful up close that it was impossible not to stare. It took all of my energy to lift my hand and trace a fingertip along the bony top ridge of her nearest wing. She shuddered.

“You gave me too much, slave. You must remember to keep a goodly amount for yourself. It’s time to be up, and instead you’ll be asleep all night.” She tsked at me and shook her head. “You can hurt yourself if you give too much. Remember that. It is too difficult for me to refuse it if you’re offering it so freely. I will gorge myself and later feel like a foolish drunkard.” She swatted my ass and I hissed, then rubbed against her. Interested, but too tired to do anything about it.

She snorted. “Needy little thing. You’ve never lain with anyone else, but you’re determined to exhaust me.”

“How come I didn’t like you that much when I woke up and now I feel like someone fed me a love potion? Not just an aphrodisiac, but an actual love potion. Is it because you’re a succubus? Like some sort of super power?”

Moth pressed her forehead to mine. “No, I feel it, too,” she whispered. “I think we bonded, although I didn’t mean to do it yet. I guess when you brought me to orgasm then fed me, our fates were sealed.”

“Bonded? Like mother and child?”

“Nothing that wholesome. More like host and symbiant.” She sighed. “If I had the means, I would have put my child upon you now and then even the Council could not part us.”

Her gaze was intense. A feeling of panic rose in my chest.

“Your Council will take me from you and give me to someone else?”

She drew back and shrugged. “Fox and I have discussed it at length. I wasn’t going to take you at all because there is no precedent, no way of knowing what they will choose to do, since I cannot breed with you. He convinced me that it was worth the chance, even to have a few weeks, or even days with you.”

“But why me? Why not the gazillion other humans you’ve seduced? I’m nothing special.”

“I felt you one night when I was seeking prey. It was akin to soaring into a web. I was caught fast, but once I had tasted your mind I had no desire to be free.”

Her lips brushed over my cheekbone in a gesture so tender that it stole my breath. Time paused while I soaked up the feeling of being loved. I’d been kidnapped, but it was hard to be angry at her. She didn’t seem to know any better. It was just how things were done where she lived. If I could get close to her, maybe I could convince her to let me go… when I wanted to go.

“It seems very sudden to abduct me when you only visited me twice.”

She brushed a finger across my lips. “I watched you many times before I crossed the threshold into your dwelling.”

“That’s so creepy.”

She laughed. “I suppose it would seem so to a human. For us it is simply how we live. Like any other creature, we do what nature dictates.”

“Nature dictated you steal me from my boring life to be your sex slave? I don’t even like girls.”

Moth bared her teeth, but it was hard to tell if it was a smile or a threat. For some reason I was feeling brave. I blamed the endorphins.

“Women hold no attraction for me, either.”

“Really? Then I guess you can bring me home then.”

She stiffened and got to her feet, more graceful in her anger than any creature had a right to be. Why had I pushed so far? Moth wasn’t my friend or my lover. She was my kidnapper. My mind tiptoed around the word rape, but I grimaced. Sure, I was there against my will, but the sex had been more than consensual. Stockholm Syndrome happened to other people, but not me. I’d wanted her maybe even more than she wanted me. Shame bubbled to the surface. What kind of woman put out so eagerly for her kidnapper when there didn’t seem to be a lot of danger involved in refusing? I got the impression that if I’d said no in any meaningful way, she would have left me untouched. Well… other than putting the collar on me, maybe.

Moth’s face cycled through several emotions. She’d never make a living playing poker. Finally, her expression and eyes turned hard.

“When I tire of you I will consider it. Be less eager to accept pleasure from me and perhaps I will tire of you sooner.”

Oooh. Burn. One point for the succubus.

Moth turned on her heel and stalked off, wings unsettled, leaving me to deal with my chaotic thoughts all by myself.

***

Maddening.

I paced the great hall in agitation. No matter how I fussed, my wings would not fold neatly. They were ruffled, evidence of the turmoil in my mind.

We had lain together. I had brought her pleasure, the likes of which she had never known, if her thoughts were any indication. She had a palace instead of that hovel she’d resided in. Worse yet, she had my affection. I had bonded with her without the least intention. Now she wanted me to bring her home?

Did she not know that some incubi kept their slaves imprisoned, and fed from them until they were husks of their former selves, or bred them further than was healthy? I had offered her a place at my feet, and she had sneered. What I’d risked to bring her home was of no consequence, in her estimation. Only her freedom from me seemed to be of significance.

The bitter, childish side of my mind urged me to pluck her from where she slept and deposit her back in her own realm. If I did, there was a chance she would believe what had happened between us to be a dream and go back to her life. But even if she recalled every detail and knew it to be real, would she only feel blessed that I had released her?

“Your floor will wear through and you’ll fall to your death.” I could hear the smirk in his tone before I turned.

“Fox, now is not the time. If you came only to mock me, please go.”

He came to me and studied my expression, then wrapped his strong arms about me. “Did the Warder keep you at bay?”

“No, no. She is here. Asleep. And I am so very dim-witted.” I sighed and leaned into him, glad for the feeling of being held together when I felt like I would fly apart.

“She is being difficult? Anne was difficult, at first, but you know how things are with us now. Sometimes they need to rail and be livid before they can settle into their place.”

I thought of Fox’s slave, who’d been prickly and angry for a time when she’d first been claimed. She was now heavy with her third cambion, and quite content with her lot. Adoring Fox seemed easy for slaves, though. I had not the talent.

“I think I must return her to the human realm and forget her. She does not want me. She wants me to take her home.” The words I next meant to say lodged in my throat and refused to come.

He stroked my wings, coaxing them to settle more politely behind me. It was odd for him to be so intimate with me, but in my distress I welcomed the care.

“Oh, Moth, did you bond with her?” His tone was incredulous. “You should have guarded yourself better if she seemed reluctant to stay. I know she is the first human you’ve obsessed over, but it was soon to do it, even had she been most willing.”

I sighed and buried my face in his chest. “The bonding was accidental. I snatched her from her bed and brought her home. I collared her, then when she had rested I gave her pleasure. I think it occurred afterward, when she kissed me and gave her energy willingly. My guard dropped. I thought she meant to stay.”

“Hmm. That was a happy sign. That would have confused me, as well.”

His shrug made me less inclined to beat my head against a wall for being an idiot.

“I spoke soft words to her and held her afterward, and she seem to return my affection, but suddenly she was mocking and asked to be returned to the human realm. Was it all a trick?” To my chagrin, a tear formed. I wiped it away before Fox saw my weakness. Weeping over a slave? Absurd!

“Sometimes they just require a period of adjustment, Moth. Not every human girl fondly dreams of being stolen from her bed by a monster. Most don’t. It is up to us, as their new Masters, to convince them this life is more to their taste. Olivia and Ellie visit their families during the human winter solstice time now, and return to me gladly when I go back for them. Maybe she has attachments there she is reluctant to give up? Maybe her hesitation isn’t about you.”

The reason was irrelevant to my misery. “She said she does not favor females, but she found pleasure with me easily enough.” I sounded sulky, even to myself.

“You do not favor females, either. Perhaps it is difficult for her to overlook your breasts and your lack of male genitalia. It is for me.” His fingers trailed over my breast for a moment, but instead of being incensed, I was aroused. Fox knew his way around a woman’s body and I’d never lain with an incubus. But it was Fox. What if things between us changed afterward? He was my closest friend and having things become awkward between us would be unbearable.

Besides, he was not truly interested. He was too used to holding women he could take liberties with.

“I would suggest you keep her some few days, at least, and see where things stand. Dropping her back into her other life because of one unsatisfactory interaction is not the act of a good Master. Slaves aren’t always easily kept, but once you have them obedient they are a great joy, and not only when seeking pleasure. Humans are almost as clever as we are, despite the strange way they speak. They can be the source of endless diversion and affection if you choose carefully. Maybe it would have been best for you to choose another male.”

Fox released me from his embrace, and not for the first time I admired the corded muscle of his chest and arms. He was a well-made male, and he knew it. He was confident rather than filled with bravado. Perhaps, some day, sampling his talents would be a sensible idea.

I sat in one of the room’s two chairs, and he took the other.

“When it comes to slaves, it is difficult to have a meaningful interaction with a man who drools on himself whenever he sees you. They are quite content to dream of me, keep me fed, let me rob them of their seed, but none have even tried to converse with me, other than my last slave. He was a strange little man.”

He chuckled. “I am certain that being a comely woman is exceedingly difficult in its own way.”

“Shiloh’s sexuality is powerful, but it is hardly the only reason I had to have her. It’s the tone of her thoughts, Fox. Shiloh is so very good. She is of a most charitable nature—willing to forgive anyone anything. She makes excuses for the ill behavior of others and does not dwell upon it. She gives of her time and coin to help the poor. The injustices in the world bother her. She is no martyr, but she loves people deeply, in her own quiet way. The thoughts in her head are so beautiful…”

His sad smile was sympathetic. “You
are
smitten with her.”

I looked at him grimly. “I know. I am, but her feelings aren’t what mine are, and I don’t think they ever shall be.”

“You can see inside her mind. She has no such advantage. You must give her time to know you before you can decide she will never bond to you. For a creature that will live for an eternity, you are being impatient in this. That she didn’t fall about in a fit when she discovered you were real shows that she has strength of mind. That she willingly let you pleasure her shows that she has interest in you, even if women are not her first choice.”

“She allowed me to take her virginity.”

His mouth opened, then shut. For several minutes he seemed lost in thought.

“Is she very young?”

“No, only afraid of men, I believe. She has twenty-two years.”

“Virgins in her culture at such an age are rare. I hope you were gentle with her.”

“More gentle than you would have managed. I have nothing larger than fingers to thrust within.”

Fox shifted in his seat, as though it had become uncomfortable.

“If you ever have need of a cock to fuck her with, I am at your disposal.”

“You are a most magnanimous incubus, my friend. But if you lay so much as a finger on her without my leave, I will find a way to make you suffer horribly before I slay you.”

The corner of his mouth quirked until he noted my expression.

“You threaten to kill me over a human girl I have not so much as laid eyes upon? Never did I think to see this day.” He shook his head in mock dismay. “I would never touch her without your leave, Moth. I am not so rude, and I have several slaves of my own, please recall. I said only ‘if
you
wish,’ not if
I
do.”

I deflated, my anger leaving me when I realized what I’d threatened. My passion for Shiloh was overtaking my good sense. This was Fox, not some stranger.

“The unrequited bonding is difficult to bear. I apologize. I know you would do no such thing.”

I rubbed at my face with both hands, feeling foolish.

“I will help you in this, my friend. Shall I come again on the morrow, to see how you fare? Perhaps I could bring one of my slaves to show yours how to behave? Or would it be better if I stay away awhile?”

“Aye, come if you have the time to spare. After you have fed, though. She’s difficult to resist, and I have no wish to beat you senseless.”

Fox’s amusement did nothing to improve my mood. “Oh, I’ll give you something to beat, succubus. Never fear.” He winked and slipped from the room.

I watched him launch into the sky, the span of his wings huge and imposing even in the distance.

***

The gown was a joke. It had to be. Moth’s satisfied air when she’d brought in the scrap of fabric, though, had turned into thick sexual tension as she’d put me on a leash and led me to the bathing room. There, she washed me in the huge bathing pool and then dressed me. She brushed my hair, her hands straying sometimes to caress my bare skin. And bare skin wasn’t hard to find in this getup. There were large open spaces in both sides of the garment, as though it was designed to be lingerie rather than honest-to-goodness clothing. I also wished I had underwear, of the knee-length persuasion. My ass had been touched and grabbed so often that I was pretty sure it had permanent succubus handprints.