King of Spades (9 page)

It was late into the night when Darronn returned to his quarters, still in his tiger form. He spelled the doors open and quietly closed them behind him again with his magic. Immediately he caught Alexi’s feminine musk amongst the more customary smells of bathing gels, oils, and wood burning in his hearth.

The room was dark, save for a slice of moonlight spilling through a gap in the heavy drapes, and the orange glow of embers in the fireplace. With his keen feline vision, light was not necessary.

He padded silently to the bedside to see Alexi asleep, her features relaxed and a smile teasing the corner of her mouth. Her reddish-brown hair tumbled about her face and he sniffed at her clean skin and the almond-scented shampoo and body gel she must have used during her bath. A light blanket was loosely draped over her form, exposing her bare shoulder and back, and the curve of one breast.

Need that had never dissipated grew even fiercer as he watched his woman sleeping. No, he would not take her until he felt she was ready—no matter that she had already invited him into her core.

With a sigh of frustration, Darronn stretched out on the floor beside the bed and rested his head on his paws.

It would be a long night, indeed.

Chapter Six

Alexi snuggled into the fur covering and gave a contented sigh. She felt warm and loved and safe, like she was being hugged by a giant teddy bear. The ache in her head from her caffeine withdrawal had lessened and her knuckles didn’t throb any more.

She lifted her eyelids to see that she was in Darronn’s bed in his enormous bedroom. She was lying on her side, facing the fireplace. The fire had died down during the night leaving only a few glowing coals.

When she’d gone to bed she’d been naked, not bothering to slip on the covering that Kira, a servant, had left when she’d drawn the bath. The honey-blonde haired woman seemed to take pleasure in serving Alexi, and in being subservient. Judging by her sensual movements, Kira obviously relished wearing her skimpy leather outfit that exposed more boob than it hid.

While Alexi had bathed, Kira had gently washed out the thigh-high stockings, and cleaned the dirt off the red stilettos, then put them away in a trunk filled with leather clothing.

Another pair of servants had served Alexi’s meal, which had actually been quite good. The food was different—breads, vegetables and pastries she wasn’t familiar with, but she had never been squeamish and she’d been starving, so she dug in.

She’d been too hungry to talk, and by the time she finished dinner and climbed into her bath all the servants had vanished, so she’d never had a chance to ask any questions. After her bath, she’d toweled off and tried opening the doors to the balcony and to the hallway, but everything had been locked.

It had been a long day, and she was tired, so she’d crawled into bed and had fallen asleep in no time.

Alexi sighed as her thoughts turned to Darronn. Last night she’d been so hot for him. He’d licked her clit and had given her such spectacular orgasms, then she’d sucked him off and he’d left.

She snuggled deeper into the fur and smiled. Yeah, she’d been disappointed. She couldn’t deny how much she wanted Darronn. But she also knew that she had some power over him, even if he’d never admit it.

A yawn escaped her and she started to roll onto her back, only to realize that something very large, very warm, and very immovable, was directly behind her. And a massive white paw was draped over her shoulder. A paw with a stripe in a black spade design.

She scooted away from Tony the Tiger enough to roll over in his feline embrace so that she was facing him.

Darronn’s vibrant green eyes were open and studying her. Even in his tiger form, his eyes were expressive, telling her more than he wanted her to know, she was certain. He didn’t know what to do with her. She wasn’t fitting the mold of every other woman he’d ever known.

Alexi couldn’t help the smile that curved her lips as she raised her hand to stroke the soft white fur of his muzzle. “Good morning, Darronn.”

And to you, my firecat.
A rumble rose in his chest and his pink tongue darted out and licked the tip of her nose and she laughed.

“I know you think I belong here with you. But I don’t. I have a home back in San Francisco, and more importantly, I have a sister to search for.” Somehow it seemed easier talking to him when he was big, soft, furry, and cuddly. “And I’m not the submissive type. I’m not right for you.”

In this you are wrong.
Darronn the tiger purred and then transformed… Beneath her fingertips white fur changed to olive skin and dark brown hair. The fur on his body melted away, his body morphing, muscles shifting.

In moments Darronn the man was in her arms, his naked body only inches from hers. Her fingers now caressed his stubbled jaw to his ear and into his wild brown hair. His gold earring and the black eye she’d given him almost made him look like a pirate.

“You’re magnificent,” she said as she touched him. “As a tiger or a man.”

“You are the perfect woman for me.” Darronn slipped one hand into her hair, cupped the back of her head and brought his lips until they barely hovered over hers. “I will have no other.”

The look in Darronn’s eyes and the depth of feeling in his voice was almost more than Alexi could handle. She never allowed any man to get under her skin, and she wasn’t going to let this one, either. What she needed was a good fuck, and this was the guy who could give it to her.

Besides, if she didn’t solve her immediate lust problem, she wouldn’t be able to get her mind back on escaping, and then to finding her way back to San Francisco and searching for her sister.

Instead of waiting for Darronn to kiss her, Alexi clenched her hand in his hair and brought her lips up to meet his. She lightly bit his lower lip and he growled, the sound rumbling through her body and straight to her pussy.

The kiss became a whirlwind of sensation and feeling, their tongues thrusting and tasting. His stubble chafed her mouth, her chin, her lips, and she moaned from the erotic sensations. Alexi wanted Darronn more than any man she’d ever known. She wanted his body tight to hers, wanted his cock deep inside her.

As far as birth control, she’d had the hormone implant inserted under the skin of her upper arm awhile back because she loved sex, and didn’t want to have to worry about getting pregnant and interrupting her career. It had been far too long since she’d had a man, though, and she’d
never
had a man like this one.

Darronn moved his hand from her hair, slid it down to her ass and pressed their bodies tightly together. His cock was so hard and so enormous it felt as if it was bruising her belly. Her nipples brushed against his chest, making the ache in her pussy even greater.

While they continued ravaging each other, Alexi hooked one leg over his hips and tried to push him on his back so that she could climb on top and ride him. But he was too powerful, and instead he rolled her onto her back and positioned himself between her thighs.

He tore his mouth from hers and looked down at her with savage intensity in his green eyes. “In my bed, you are mine to command, firecat.”

Her many fantasies came back to her, a secret thrill that made her even hornier. “In bed only?” she asked as her eyes met his, and she knew her gaze held challenge.

“There are many things I wish to do that would give you pleasure beyond your dreams.” He pressed his erection against her slit. “But you need relinquish control to me.”

The fact that he was asking—in his own way—was enough to give Alexi pause, and it excited her, too. Here was a man used to total submission from his women, yet willing to keep it in the bedroom for her. Being mastered sexually had been her fantasy for a long time, and this was the only man she could ever imagine submitting to.

Oooh, like the fantasy she’d had about being a French maid being erotically punished by her employer. Or better yet, where she was a servant in a palace where the prince had to sexually punish her for misbehaving…

“I
have
been a bad, bad serving girl.” She ran her tongue along her lower lip and enjoyed watching the flare of desire in his eyes. “How will you punish me…Master?”

Surprise then raging lust washed over his expression, both replaced by a mask of control. The face of a king who ruled his kingdom with a firm hand. That power was such a turn-on and it added fuel to her fantasy.

Darronn moved from between her thighs and knelt on the bed, his massive chest muscles flexing and his hair wild about his shoulders—and his cock thrusting out in the biggest hard-on she’d ever seen in her life.

“You require discipline for ignoring your duties to your king.” He raised his arm, the one with the spade tattoo, and a black leather strap appeared in his palm. “On your knees, wench.”

The way he said wench…
damn
but it was sexy. Alexi’s pussy grew even wetter, surely moistening the sheet beneath her. What he had in mind for that strap she wasn’t sure, but from what she’d come to know about Darronn, she trusted him not to hurt her. In fact, she was certain she would enjoy whatever he came up with. Nearly breathless with anticipation, she raised herself up on her knees so that she was facing him. “What would you have me do now, Master?”

“Widen your thighs and turn toward the wall.” While she complied, Darronn trailed the strap over her breasts, causing her nipples to harden and more moisture to develop between her legs. “Stretch your body forward and place your hands upon the bar,” he instructed, gesturing to the headboard’s wood railing.

Alexi complied, a sensual shiver racing throughout her body. When she had a firm grip on the bar, Darronn moved closer and then tied her hands to it with the black leather strap.

Her breathing grew even more rapid and her skin tingled with anticipation. She glanced at Darronn and saw that he held a black cloth. Before she could gather her thoughts enough to wonder what he had in mind for it, he was tying it around her head, blindfolding her. “How are you going to punish me, Master?” she asked, hardly able to stand the wait.

“In addition to your disobedience, you talk far too much for a serving girl.” Darronn’s tone was so sensual that Alexi knew he was getting off on this as much as she was. Being blindfolded made her even more aware of his musky smell, the heat of his body, the need in his voice. “This should solve the immediate problem of your insolence.”

Alexi gasped as a silk cloth was slipped between her lips and tied around her head. She made a sound of protest and tugged against her bonds, but it was only half-hearted. It was unbelievable to have her knees splayed wide and cool air skimming her pussy, her hands bound to the bed, to be blindfolded and gagged—and totally at his mercy.

She felt the soft caress of leather over her ass cheeks and a trickle of fear and excitement filled her.

“In my kingdom my servants must perform their duties with efficiency.” The leather strap moved up her backside, along her spine to her neck, and then across each shoulder. “You have been neglecting your duties, wench,” Darronn murmured, “and for that you will be punished.”

The strap moved over her back while she felt something being pressed into her hand. It felt soft and rubbery, and in the same shape as the spade vibrator. “Drop the spade if you feel anything but pleasure,” he murmured near her ear. “If you feel fear, or wish me to stop, just release it and this game ends.”

Ha! Alexi O’Brien never backs down from a challenge.

Darronn growled and she shivered. “Nod if you understand, wench.”

Alexi swallowed behind her gag and nodded.

A snapping sound, like a whip, and then a sting against her ass cheeks startled Alexi into crying out behind the gag and nearly dropping the spade. The sting quickly melted into warmth that spread across her skin.

“You turn a lovely shade of pink for me, wench,” he murmured and another lash fell.

She clenched the spade tighter and the next lash fell and then the next. It seemed that the more he lashed her, the better it felt. The pain turned into a kind of rapture she had never expected. Soon she was pressing back, moving into the lashes, and moaning from the sheer excitement and the heat now radiating all over her body. He lashed her shoulders, her back, her ass, her thighs, always continuing to another location and never striking in the same one.

But what shocked Alexi more than anything, was how close she was to orgasm. It seemed that every strike of his strap made her hornier and hornier yet.

“Remember that you may not climax without my permission, wench,” Darronn said as he continued the erotic punishment. “If you do, I shall be forced to punish you yet again.”

Alexi wasn’t sure she could handle much more pleasure and pain than this. And since they were playing at him being her Master, then she would do whatever it took to hold back her orgasm. Any challenge she put her mind to, she would win.

Darronn laid the strap across her back as he moved behind her, between her splayed thighs, and she almost sighed with relief. She needed to come so bad she was on the fine, fine edge.

But when he grasped her butt cheeks and she felt his rough tongue lave her pussy, she almost lost it. Small tremors caused her thighs to quiver. She fought against her bonds and shouted at him to stop, but her gag held back the scream.

The bastard gave a satisfied sound and thankfully moved away. But then he growled in his tiger-like way and bit her ass cheek hard enough to bring tears to her eyes.

Marking her.

“You belong to me, Alexi.” Darronn grabbed her slim hips in his large hands and pressed his erection to her ass.

She pulled against her bonds and clenched the spade tighter. She wanted to talk, to tell him that she was his for now, only in this bed, and just for this moment, but the gag held her words back and the blindfold kept her from trying to look over her shoulder to tell him with her eyes.