Desire After Dark: Lords of Pleasure (6 page)

He and his hostess—or was that mistress?—navigated through an opulent living area to a large dining room. A long, dark table sat in the center surrounded by some twenty chairs. The setup was gorgeous, but definite overkill for a family of six.

It struck him that for some reason, this place didn’t seem to fit Kassandra at all—at least going by what he’d gotten to know of her so far. Sure, among immortals she was damned near royalty, but her home was ostentatious to the point of being ridiculous. It wasn’t sleek, savvy, and in control like the warrior within.

Keeping his opinion of her home to himself, he sat in a spot near the closest end where she indicated. This placed him directly across from a lovely dark-haired woman perhaps a few years older than Kassandra. Or he
thought
she was lovely until she
turned to Kassandra wearing a forbidding scowl, her face pinched as though she’d smelled a bad odor.

“Since when do we allow our whores at the table to dine with us?”

He felt as though he’d been slapped. The bitch had coldly enunciated “whores” as though saying “wet dogs.” And it rudely brought home the point Luc had been trying to make with Kassandra before.

Luc’s lip lifted in a snarl. “I’m not a damned—”

“Serena, this is Lord Luc Fontaine, the injured vampire I brought home the day before yesterday,” his new mistress said sharply, cutting off his snide retort before it could form. “Luc, this is my oldest sister, Serena.”

Drawing herself up, Serena gazed at him coolly, with new interest. “He’s still here? I didn’t recognize him not covered by all the dirt and blood.”

Immediately, he decided he didn’t like this woman at all. Looking directly at him, speaking about him as though he wasn’t there or was a species of exotic insect, was a purposeful insult that made his blood boil. He hated people like that and did his best to avoid them.

“
He’s
sitting right here,” Luc said with a smile that deliberately showed his fangs. “I’ll thank you to speak
to
me, not around me.”

The woman studied him for a long moment, her dark, catlike eyes watchful. Calculating. “Sister, you’ve certainly found a mouthy one. I do hope he learns to put it to good use.”

“What I do or don’t do with my talented mouth is nothing you’ll need to worry about,” he said sweetly. “If I’m in the mood for something cold, I’ll suck an ice cube.” As expected, the barb hit the mark.

A flicker of what might’ve been hurt marred the cold perfection of her face before her features smoothed again. “We’ll see about that.”

Interesting reaction. Was there a person with feelings hiding under Serena’s witchy facade? Or was she that good an actress to try and evoke sympathy? Somehow the emotion struck him as genuine.

Glancing to Kassandra to view her reaction, he saw her glaring at Serena with undisguised irritation. His mistress wasn’t buying.

He shrugged. “I have Kassandra to thank for saving my life, so I have agreed to serve her while I’m here. I’ll do whatever
she
asks of me….” Raising his brows, he looked to Kassandra for her say on the matter. Luc knew he’d engage in just about any kink she ordered—there wasn’t much he hadn’t
done
in three centuries, including siblings of both sexes—but there didn’t seem to be much love lost between the two sisters.

He took advantage of their glaring match to study them. One golden, the other dark. Both used to being in charge. Both stunning. But could he bed Serena? It was very difficult for him to fuck someone he didn’t at least like on a basic level—not impossible, just not nearly as satisfying.

Before Kassandra could reply, a young woman hurried into the room, carrying two place settings. She laid them out, then quickly excused herself. Kass picked up a fork, stabbed a piece of roast on a platter in the center of the table, and put it on her plate. She nodded at Luc, indicating for him to dish up. He did, waiting and watching with curiosity.

After casually chewing and swallowing a piece of meat, his mistress addressed her sister in a steely tone. “You touch my vampire without my permission and I’ll tear off your arms and beat you with them.”

My vampire.
The threat delivered so succinctly, and that possessive term, made his pulse pound. Made him half hard again, too. It could be he was destined to spend his entire stay drowning in lust and fighting off—okay, pretending to fight off—bed partners. If that was the least of his worries, he’d cope.

Luc continued to eat, observing Serena and waiting for the explosion. Instead, she laughed, a deep throaty sound that wrapped around his dick and squeezed. The calculating expression vanished, replaced by an open smile and a wicked glint in those dark eyes, making her look almost…approachable.

“You always know how to banish my foul moods.”

Kassandra snorted, relaxing some, and the tension bled from the room. “Glad I could be a source of amusement.”

“Really, Kass, must you be so stingy with our delectable guest?”

“Why shouldn’t I? You’ve been a bitch to me for the past month.”

“I’ll do better,” her sister said, though she didn’t appear very contrite. “And, anyway, you need to be nice to me regardless, if you hope to get out of the mess you’ve created for yourself.”

“We’ll discuss that later,” Kassandra said sharply.

“You bet we will.” Rising, Serena tossed her napkin onto her plate. “I’m going to find my own
entertainment
and retire for the evening. Until tomorrow.”

Kassandra muttered a good-bye as her sister retreated, staring in the direction she’d gone. Luc gained her attention by voicing the question most on his mind.

“What mess? The one involving whatever you did to piss off the gods?”

“The same.”

“You said your sisters wouldn’t help, but Serena indicated she would,” he pointed out.

“For a price, I’m sure.” Her mouth twisted in a wry parody of a smile. “They never do anything that doesn’t benefit them in some way.”

“What did you do to tick off the big guys, anyway?”

“None of your business. I have people all around me for sticking their noses in and giving me unsolicited advice.”

He laughed. “Well, they must really suck at giving it. Maybe I can help.”

She gave him a withering glare, then sighed. “That may be true, but when I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it.”

“Fair enough.”

“You’re not going to be a very obedient slave, are you?”

“Oh, I’m very obedient when I get the right orders.” He waggled his brows with a lecherous grin and was gratified when she smiled back. Another score.

“Eat your dinner and stop pestering me with questions I don’t intend to answer.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Dutifully, he took another bite.

“And don’t call me ma’am. It makes me feel ancient—and
don’t
make a smart-ass reply if you value your hide.”

“Anything else?” He gave her his most innocent look.

“No, dammit. Eat.”

Snickering, he finished his meal while mulling over his new circumstances. As worried as he was about Soren, Aldric was there to help him, not to mention the Council and their allies if need be. His brothers would be all right.

By the time they were finished eating, Luc could barely hold up his head. His chin bobbed until Kassandra stood, gently touching his shoulder.

“Your ordeal has taken a toll. Come on—let’s get you back in bed.”

“And not for fun, I gather?” His teasing emerged as a whisper.

“Not until I know you won’t pass out in the middle of it, you useless slave.”

He could have sworn her voice held a note of affection, which proved he must be more exhausted than he’d realized. She didn’t know him and had no reason to like him.

And then a few minutes later, he fell into the sheets, too tired to think anymore.

Luc awoke to lips, nibbling his skin. Two sets of lips, to be exact.

He was lying on his back, arms out from his sides, legs spread. Letting himself drift, he relished the dual sensation of one nipple being licked and teased, his abdomen receiving the same treatment while his lovers’ attention moved steadily south. Their long hair brushed over his torso and thighs like the threads of a spiderweb, making him shiver.

“If this is a dream, let me stay asleep.”

“Oh, you’ll want to be awake for this,” Kassandra said in a throaty voice.

Luc’s eyes popped open to see his mistress crouched between his spread thighs, and a muscular man with shoulder-length dark hair lying at his side. He must be Taryn, who’d earned a secure place with Kass, in and out of her bed. For some reason, that annoyed him when it shouldn’t. The slave had earned his stripes with his mistress, so to speak, something Luc wouldn’t be around long enough to worry about.

Both continued to lavish attention on his body, and every cell flared to life at the exploration. His cock filled and rose eagerly, wanting in on the action. But they held him there, pinned,
sending a silent message that this was their show, and he gladly let them have their way.

Kass’s clever fingers lifted his sac, then fondled and manipulated it. Her mouth found it next, suckling each tender orb as he groaned, hips grinding seeking more. Then little kisses traveled up his hard shaft, and she swallowed him to the root, eating him like a piece of stick candy.

“Gods, yes,” he moaned, gripping the sheets.

After a few spine-melting sucks, her mouth was gone. Before he could protest, she rose and straddled his hips, positioning her opening at the head of his leaking cock. Her brown eyes locked with his, honey gold hair tumbling around her face and shoulders. A catlike smile curved her sensual lips as she sank slowly onto his aching erection, impaling herself by slow inches.

The sizzling pleasure made him suck in a sharp breath, and he was barely aware of Taryn moving around behind their mistress. At the moment, he didn’t care what the slave was doing. All that mattered was the tight pussy clasping his length as it slid up and down with delicious friction, her toned thighs and abs bunching, breasts full and ripe, her sex squeezing him like a velvet glove.

“Mistress?” Taryn said tentatively, from just behind her.

“Yes,” she said in answer to the unspoken question. Pausing in her movements, she leaned forward. “Fuck me.”

Fuck me.
Those two words formed a phrase he heard plenty in his own world, at the resort. But falling from her lips, they made his blood sing and his balls tighten with the need for release. He longed to bite her while pumping his rod deep into her pussy, but that wasn’t a liberty he dared to take without permission. It was her turf, her rules. And somehow, allowing her control over
him was more unbearably erotic than anything he’d ever experienced.

He’d mull over the why of it later. Much later.

From behind Kass, he saw Taryn’s arm moving as she braced her palms on Luc’s chest. No doubt, the slave was preparing her. He wished he could see the man spreading her little hole, making it slick and ready for his thick cock. If her whimpers were anything to judge by, she was very much enjoying the attention.

Taryn removed his hand, lined up, and began to push inside. Luc could tell by the tension in her body, the way she squeezed him more tightly than before. And then there was the increased pressure as the slave worked his way in, his cock rubbing against Luc’s, separated by merely a thin membrane. It wasn’t the first time he’d shared a female this way, but he couldn’t recall it feeling quite so exquisite.

The three of them moaned their rising pleasure, grinding slow and deep. Gradually they settled into an easy rhythm, hips pumping with increased fervor. Desire swelled and grew into a huge ocean wave, storm-tossed and becoming more powerful with every stroke. Reaching greater heights until the wave crashed in on them all, blasting his orgasm from the top of his head to his toes.

His balls emptied as he filled Kass, his body shuddering with the force of his pleasure. No,
their
pleasure, multiplied. When the last of their shivers subsided, Taryn eased out of his mistress’s channel and then assisted her with solicitous care as she climbed off Luc. She lay to one side of him, Taryn on the other, neither quite touching him. Perhaps she wasn’t the cuddly sort. He chose to ignore the disappointment and put on his usual cheerful face.

“What a damned fantastic way to wake up.”

Propping his chin in his palm, Taryn gave him a lazy smile. “It’s good you think so, because our mistress is insatiable and doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“That’s true any time of day,” Kass said, trailing a fingernail over Luc’s chest. “But I do enjoy a nice morning tumble.”

His softened shaft twitched in renewed interest, but even a vampire’s recovery time wasn’t that speedy. Too bad.

“So
is
it morning?” Luc asked, curious. The heavy drapes were closed, the barest hint of light seeping from the edges. “I’ve been disoriented ever since I awoke here…last night?”

Kass nodded. “Yes, it’s morning. Last night we soaked in the bath and ate in the dining room, where you met Serena. It’s understandable that you’d be out of sorts after what happened to you.”

This time, the shudder that rippled through him was far from pleasant. “Yeah.”

“So, you were really attacked by a werewolf?” Taryn asked with quiet awe. “I’ve never seen one.”

“Taryn—,” Kass began in a warning tone.

“No, it’s all right.” Luc laid a hand on hers. “I don’t mind. Yes, and it was only the third or fourth time I’d seen one—something you want to do from afar if necessary, and preferably not at all.”

“What happened?”

Luc smiled ruefully. Taryn might share his mistress’s insatiable lust, but the slave was an insatiable fountain of curiosity as well. “I let my guard down while riding on the outer reaches of the resort property my brothers and I own. I thought I was done for, but Kass arrived and cut off its head.”

Taryn appeared suitably impressed and shot his mistress a look of adoration. “Swooping in to the rescue is definitely one of her strengths.”

“Oh, for pity’s sake,” she grumbled.

Luc ignored her discomfort at the praise. He was a bit curious himself about Taryn’s story and Kass’s part in it—and about the scar that adorned his face. “And how did she save
you
?” As he predicted, the younger man didn’t mind sharing the tale, though his eyes darkened with the memory.