Blood Crown

I fought the urge to rip Malachi apart. Our fight in the small room where I’d been balls deep in Ashera had only heightened my blood lust. After watching him empty himself inside her tight little pussy — when I’d been denied my own release — had me feeling exceptionally hostile.

The angel king, seemed perplexed by his body’s response to the show we just witnessed. I almost felt bad for the feathered fuck. Almost.

In an instant, I was pinned against the wall of the hallway, Malachi’s arm against my throat. “Listen here you fanged asshole,” he growled. “Ashera is my mate.”

I smirked. “And does the little queen know this?”

Malachi was silent, glowering at me inches from my face, and I knew I had my answer. He hadn’t told her this important fact yet. A secret… how delicious. I opened my mouth to inform him of my plan with my newfound information, but he cut me off before I could. “Regardless, I have no issue sharing Ashera with any of her other mates, but I highly doubt you’re one of them.”

How dare he assume what I was or wasn’t? I snarled but didn’t get the chance to respond as he continued his assault. “I know why you’re here, and I won’t let you hurt her.”

At this, Jacobi stiffened and moved to stand beside Malachi, his own glare firmly fixed on me.

“I know you want to bring her down,” Malachi continued, “but that’s not going to happen. And I know you brought a merry little band with you to do just that.”

“He what?” Jacobi snarled. I hadn’t even known angels could snarl. My gaze narrowed as it bounced between the two. Why the fuck is the feathered asshole not getting his dick handed to him? For a pure shmuck, I hadn’t missed the way he had been eye-fucking Ashera.

“He threatened Ashera in the throne room.” We both knew he was withholding information from the angel king.

I wasn’t expecting the fist that slammed into my face, knocking my head back against the wall with a sickening thud, nor was I expecting it to come from the fucking angel.

Masas and Malak had an uneasy truce. We tended to avoid most dealings with one another, and we had little interest in fighting. I was surprised the king would risk that truce for a woman.

“I merely stated she needed to reinstate slavery or Shaytan would fall.” It was like I was stating simple facts to idiots. Which I was, and they were.

“Malak has no slaves, and we have never fallen. It is entirely possible to run a kingdom without them.” Jacobi looked as though he wanted to punch me again. “Queen Ashera should be commended for what she has done for her people.” Malachi chuffed in agreement.

I scoffed.

“You cannot possibly compare the two kingdoms,” I argued. “Malak has always been without slaves. Shaytan has not. Ashera has not only painted a target on her back for those who wish to return to the old ways, and those who seek her territory, she’s also created a massive economic problem Shaytan isn’t equipped to handle. What the fuck are they going to do without the slave trade to sustain them? She’s a child. No more than a weak female seeking to play with the grown-ups.”

At this Malachi threw his head back and laughed. The sound boomed down the hallway. “Ashera is well over three hundred years old, hardly a child. And as for the economic problem, you insult your own intelligence if you think she hasn’t already got multiple plans in place to ensure this kingdom doesn’t crumble around her.” He tipped his head as he glared at me. “She only toyed with you in that room when she drained you. Make no mistake — she’s a savage warrior and has power I’ve never seen before.”

That caught me off guard. The little queen who succumbed so easily to my advances…a warrior? Powerful? When I had felt her energy in the throne room, I had assumed it was merely sexual in nature — meant to seduce and tempt, but for Malachi to speak of her this way, she had to be more.

I wasn’t ready to admit I was wrong just yet, but it was entirely possible I had misjudged the intelligence of the woman I had just fucked like it was going out of style. Some kind of feeling was building inside of me, something I had never felt before. Something more than just my dick standing to attention. A voice deep inside whispered things I couldn’t understand. Is she my mate? No. Impossible. But my doubts about who the little queen was to me didn’t stop me from glaring at Malachi. “I didn’t know. And you insult your intelligence if you think I would stoop so low as to use a small rebellion to take Ashera off the throne. What benefit would that serve me?”

Malachi searched my gaze before turning to Jacobi with a brow raised in question. Right. The fucking angel could tell if I was lying or some shit. Birdbrain nodded which seemed to satisfy the homicidal incubus. Really. If I was going to overthrow a queen, it would have to be much more public than the rumors of an underground coup. A beheading maybe. Or maybe I wouldn’t even have to kill her. Maybe I could just get her on her knees in front of me, sucking my dick while her kingdom of “freed” people watched. That could be rather enjoyable… I pictured Ashera’s full lips wrapped around my cock, her blazing green eyes bright behind dark lashes as she looked up at me. Fuck. And now I was as hard as a rock again. Gods. This little queen would be the death of me.

Jacobi still looked like he wanted to kill me, or maybe convert me. Either or. But Malachi was eyeing me with a newfound interest. I had value to him now. “Do you have any idea who could be planning something like this?” he asked.

I cocked my head at him. “Your queen didn’t make any friends in Masas when she freed her slaves. Any number of people would want her head on a platter.”

“Including you,” the angel king rumbled.

I shot my hand out for his throat, but Jacobi caught me before I could touch him, leaving us in an awkward kind of stalemate. Anger raced through my veins, and I knew that if Ashera hadn’t drained me, I would’ve had him on his back. “I do not wish to harm Ashera. And regardless, Masas has enough funds that I wouldn’t need to dirty my own hands in doing so.”

Malachi stepped between the two of us. “Until you prove that, you won’t be pleasuring her either.”

My eyes bounced between the two and I snarled. “Why the fuck aren’t you threatening the feathered douche here?”

Jacobi narrowed his gaze murderously on me. Malachi glared but answered. “He has no intention of hurting my mate.” There was that fucking word again. “She said she wanted him. If he’s amenable, then she’ll have him. She hasn’t said the same for you, blood sucker.”

The look on the angel king’s face told us he was more than amenable to Ashera having him. I opened my mouth to argue that she’d said she wanted me but paused. Those words had never actually left her mouth during our encounter. Fuck. If I wanted to gain any ground, I would have to contend with these two cockblocks to get her to openly admit she wanted me.

Was that even what I wanted? That dark feral part of me roared its answer. Fuck. Yes.

I was escorted by several guards to my suite after that. My thoughts raced the entire way there. I had a strange urge to hunt down the faction Malachi had mentioned, but that would be detrimental to my end goal…wouldn’t it? What exactly was my end goal?

An image of Ashera, naked over me with Malachi thrusting away behind her as she sucked the angel king’s cock entered my mind. That couldn’t be what I wanted. No.

I wouldn’t allow it.

* * *

Ashera

The metallic scent of blood bloomed in the air, screams echoed and the fog of smoke from burning buildings stung my eyes. A small sob ravaged my tiny body as I frantically searched for mommy and daddy. Where were they?

My tiny hands struggled to reach the doorknob as coughs shook my body. More smoke was drifting in through the windows of our small hut.

“Mama?” I tugged on the door. “Papa?” My tugging grew more frantic as my coughing continued. I feared the fire was inside the house, not outside.

The pounding of hooves against the ground had me whimpering and cowering against the door. Nothing good ever came from the sound of horses. I’d always had to hide when we heard that sound.

“Mama!” I screamed when the searing heat started to lick its way closer. “Mama! Help!”

I was finally able to turn the knob enough to open the front door, and I toppled out with a cry. Why couldn’t I find my parents?

“We’ve heard that there is a demon child here in this village,” a dark voice roared over the screams. “Hand her to us now.”

I couldn’t see who had spoken, but I knew they were talking about me. I was the demon child. I was only seven summers, but I knew I wasn’t like my parents. I was one of them. I was a monster.

I shuddered against the fear that swamped my mind. My parents had found me when I was just a baby, abandoned in the woods outside our village and wrapped in an ivory blanket. They’d known instantly what I was. But they’d taken me in anyway. Loved me. Taught me.

And now I was what brought death to those who had only shown me love.

A scream pierced the air… Mama!

I scrambled to my feet and ran as fast as my tiny legs could carry me to the sound. What I saw would be forever imprinted on my mind.

My father’s lifeless body was mounted to a pike, his head on the ground beneath him. Demon soldiers were jabbing him with their swords, laughing and taunting the dead man.

But my mother… my sobs rushed out of me at the sight. My poor sweet mother was being brutalized by these men. Passed around and impaled not just with their bodies but their weapons too.

“Mama!” My scream echoed so loud the noise stopped. I hadn’t yet reached my coming of age, but the rage that built inside me coaxed what little magic I had to life. The fires raged higher, the ground trembled, and the sky darkened. They’d hurt my mama and my papa because of me.

I would hurt them in return.

“Now, now, little demon. We can’t have you doing that.” I didn’t have time to see who was talking to me before my world went dark.

* * *

I was standing naked in front of Lord Pyper, one of the most influential incubi lords in the kingdom. “It’s possible the king will make an offer for her. But she’s still too young, too volatile for that. She’ll stay here with me until she learns a woman’s place is beneath the man she’s servicing.”

My rage bubbled up, and I bit my lip to keep my control. I would be no man’s whore. I’d learned over the last several decades how to use my body to make a man do what I wanted, but I wanted power of my own. So I’d let the lord assume I was a good little consort, I’d manage his house, and when the time was right, I’d rip his head from his body. The same way he’d ripped my father’s head off.

“Now, come.” He gestured to his lap. The man next to him, a messenger from the king, laughed. I allowed my succubus to rise and released a heavy dose of pheromones into the air. If I riled him up enough, he lasted mere moments when I touched him. Pathetic.

* * *

Malachi roared beside me; his fury palpable as he hacked at the soldiers around us. It was always a surprise how efficient he was at killing. He was always so gentle and kind with me that sometimes I forgot he was a skilled assassin. One of the many teachers I’d had over the past few centuries.

My eyes narrowed on the king, who stood in front of a row of severed heads. It didn’t take a genius to see whose head was directly in the middle. Visa, my mate. The sick son of a bitch had had it magically frozen. My heart pounded in my ears as I moved without thought, slicing down bodies without actually looking at them. The king had a sadistic smirk on his face as he watched me cut through his men. He knew I was coming for him. He foolishly thought I wouldn’t be able to kill him myself.

I’d been tortured for decades before Malachi had finally been able to free me. And during that time, I’d learned how to manage my pain. There was nothing stopping me, not even the wounds I received as I continued to slaughter the men around me.

Finally. I was standing in front of the man who had ordered the death of my parents, the death of the only people I’d ever loved. The person who had enslaved an entire people. The man who used my mate’s severed head as decoration. I was going to kill him. Slowly.

We traded blows, and my body was soon covered in blood as he landed just as many as I did. I couldn’t hold back the screams when I realized his blade was poisoned, and the fire raged through my body. Each movement was torture all over again, and we continued to hack at one another.

I hadn’t come this far to fail. I hadn’t lost almost everything to give up now.

* * *

“Ashera!” Malachi’s frantic cry woke me, and I blinked away the last vestiges of the nightmare. I was still naked from his earlier display of dominance, and he was nude as well, wrapped tightly around me as he pressed his lips against my forehead.

“Thank the gods,” he mumbled as he ran soothing hands down my back. “I couldn’t fucking wake you.”

I took several deep breaths as the pain I’d felt, physical and emotional, began to fade. My gaze locked with Malachi’s as my trembling ceased.

“Why are you in my bed?” I asked in confusion.

He narrowed his eyes, and a frown appeared on his face. “I escorted the two royals out of the door before coming right back to you. You were already asleep.”

I searched his gaze as his eyes lowered to my lips. “Sher.” That one word — my name — said like that had my heart pounding in my chest. He said it with such longing and so much heat. “My mate.”

Mate. My heart continued to pound as we inched our faces closer. I should have fucking known from the first moment we met. From that voice calling inside me, crying out to be closer to him. It made so much sense. Most females had more than one mate, and even though I’d had a mate many years ago, she was dead. Malachi wasn’t. He was here. And he was mine.

“I should have acted sooner, Sher.” He brushed his lips against mine, and I whimpered against his lips. This is finally happening!

“Malachi,” I murmured before launching myself against him. Our lips clashed as we licked and nipped each other, running our hands over any skin we could get our hands on. I doubted either of us could slow down. Despite having each other hours ago, we hadn’t acknowledged what was really between us.

I was suddenly pinned beneath him, my hands magically restrained above my head as Mal’s heated gaze traveled my body.

“I need to taste you again.” — my hips bucked— “but first I want you to let your glamor down.”

We stared at each other for a moment, and then I loosened the power keeping my glamor in check. Golden wings sprouted from my shoulders, and a set of delicately curved horns appeared near my hairline. Not all succubi had wings and horns, so I tended to keep them hidden. Mal looked over me, reaching out a hand to touch the edge of one delicate, golden wing. I shuddered with his light touch.

“Fuck, you’re beautiful, Sher. I don’t want you to ever hide from me.”

He started nibbling down my body, beginning at my neck. I tilted my head to allow him better access. He used his fingers to circle my nipples as those delicious lips made their way lower. My back bowed off the bed, begging him to touch me, taste me. His dark chuckle against my collar bone had me fighting the urge to scream at him to move faster. I didn’t want to go slow. I wanted him in me, around me, everywhere. I needed him everywhere.

“Easy, my queen.” He sank his teeth into my collar bone, and I moaned. “I’ll give us what we both need, but first, I get to taste every inch of you. I’ve waited too long.”

When he puts it like that…

He closed his lips around an aching nipple and used his fingers to twist at the other. Pleasure sparked through my veins, and I tangled my legs with his. I needed to touch every inch of him. Our demon powers flooded the room as we fed off each other. I’d never had this happen with another demon before. Hadn’t realized it was possible to feed off someone while they fed off you. It felt as though our souls were touching. Merging. A searing heat spread from my heart to my shoulder, and I knew instantly our mating marks were appearing as we accepted and acknowledged our bond.

Malachi didn’t acknowledge the mark, too intent on tasting me to realize that his would be coming in at the same time. He used his lips to travel lower, swirling around my navel before he crouched between my thighs. I wanted a portrait of him there, with that look of acute hunger on his face. I shivered.

My legs opened wider, and he let out a dark chuckle before leaning his head down to swirl his tongue against my clit. I flung my head back against the pillows, and a sharp cry slipped between my lips when he slid two fingers inside me. I was hurtled so close to the edge so quickly, I didn’t have any warning before I came with a shout of his name, my legs shaking.

The urge to taste him flooded me. I broke his hold on my hands and had our positions reversed before he could comprehend what had happened. With a sly grin, I immediately wrapped my lips around his cock. His loud groan of approval spurred me on. The gods had seen fit to bless me without a gag reflex, so I was able to take all of him down my throat. His body shuddered as I moved against him, and he tangled his hands roughly in my hair to keep me in place.

“That’s it, my little slut,” he groaned. “Take all of my cock.”

I hummed around him causing him to bark out a curse. “Fuck, just like that.”

His breathing picked up, and I could tell he was close. I wanted him to spill down my throat, but he had other plans. With surprising strength, he pulled me off his cock, flipped us, and linked our hands next to my head. I wrapped my legs around him as he slowly sank to the hilt.

“Keep your eyes on me, Sher,” he rumbled as he started to move. His thrusts were slow, gentle, and hit so deep my eyes wanted to roll into the back of my head. “I want to see the look on your face when you come for me.”

“Malachi,” I cried when he adjusted our position just a bit so his hips rubbed against my clit each time he thrust deep. Our gazes locked and something intimate, deep… loving… passed between us. My heart lurched, and I came with a strangled scream. He roared my name as his own release claimed him moments later.

We stayed locked like that for a moment, our chests heaving against each other. We’d mated. My eyes found his mate mark, a bold crown that wrapped around his bicep, and my lips tugged into a satisfied grin. This male was mine. His gentle hands turned me so he could inspect his mark on my shoulder.

“Wings.” His voice was rough and filled with emotion. “You’ve got my wings.”

I turned back to him, a giant smile spreading across my face. There would be no mistaking who we belonged to. Malachi’s head dipped as he dragged his nose along my neck, taking in my scent. “You’re finally mine,” he growled.