“You’re going to wish you hadn’t done that,” he whispered in a raspy tone. Then his mouth crushed against mine. The coppery tang of blood tainted each desperate pull of air into my lungs, and I bucked beneath him, biting his tongue, forcing him to pull back or lose it. “Such fight is admirable, but it isn’t your fight I want—it is your surrender.” His smile was all predator as something worrisome burned in his endless, glittering silver depths.
“I will never surrender to you. I will never stop fighting you, Arius. I’ll play along with your games for now, but that is all the bend I will offer you. If you reach for more, if you try to take what isn’t offered, it will not end well for you. Now, stop trying to kiss me, you arrogant, sadistic prick.” I pulled the tattered gown together, which made his eyes drop to the exposed crests of my breasts before rolling back up to my face.
His smile spread, and he slipped his hand down to cup my apex.
“No matter what you tell yourself, your body doesn’t lie. Eventually, you’ll be mine, and when you finally let down your walls, I’ll fucking destroy you, pretty princess. By the time I finish with you, there won’t be anything left for me to taunt your parents.” He lifted, forcing me up with him.
“Last time I checked, I wasn’t ruled by my cunt. That’s an issue men with only one working head suffer from. The only thing you’ll be destroying is that over-inflated ego of yours. The only thing you’ll wreck in the process is your fucking pride, asshole.”
His thumb pressed against the wound in my palm, but I refused to make a sound. Arius wanted to hear me beg and plead, but I wasn’t willing to feed him anything. “I’m glad that your pain threshold is high because I do hate when my pretty toys break easily.”
“Careful this toy doesn’t take the hand you used to play with it. Wouldn’t that be such a shame? Are you finished, Arius? You bore me, and that isolation you threatened me with earlier sounds heavenly. At least I won’t be forced to endure your insufferable posturing and mouth. Please, show me to my dismal chamber so that I can fantasize about all the pleasurable ways I’d like to end you.”
He smiled, stepping back as the guards moved in and secured my arms. “Put her in my bedroom and lock her inside the cage we brought with us for my pretty little pet.” He turned back to me. “I do hope you like it, Kahleena, it’s where you will spend every moment that I’m not playing with you.”
Arius didn’t like it when I didn’t kowtow to his whims, but he deserved my ire and then some. He’d not responded well to my clap back, either. I’d seen him shield his emotion around the others as well as my uncle. But in his bedroom? He’d had a moment where he’d let his guard down a tiny bit, and I needed to figure out how I’d done it.
He hadn’t needed to take me to his room, but he had. When I woke up, he’d been next to me, which wasn’t exactly the action of a heartless monster he wanted everyone to believe him to be. Unless he’d slipped and hadn’t intended to show me he wasn’t immune to me? It was more than likely the last option, but it told me he could be reached. I just wasn’t certain I’d survive it, and the clock in my chest was ticking closer to zero, like a bomb set to detonate.
I’d calculated my choices and put the kingdom before my needs. I had done my job as the princess and had come here to broker peace with who I thought was my mate. I prayed to anyone listening that I wasn’t wrong about attempting to thwart fate. It hadn’t shown me a simple path or the conclusion I’d wanted to achieve. It had given a glimpse of my home being decimated. They had slaughtered my family, along with those who’d joined to fight against Arius, which I had to change. I couldn’t stand doing nothing. I had to fight, even if that meant fighting fate and conquering the prickly bitch beneath my foot.
I was Kahleena, Queen of the Horde, and daughter of the High King and Queen of Faery. I’d be damned if a motherfucker thought to try me.
Spyder had told me once that I was a little spitfire and that my kitty would one day make someone purr. I still didn’t really grasp his meaning then, but I had an inkling that I didn’t need to go out and find a kitty to buy. Arius thought I would submit, but he must have spent too much time hidden behind the walls of the prison and forgot the sun doesn’t bend to the whims of the moon. I would just have to remind him of that before he broke me. No pressure, right?
~ The End ~
Kahleena’s book coming soon
Zahruk’s book coming soon
Adam’s book coming soon
Spyder’s book coming soon
Vlad’s book coming soon
Ristan’s book coming soon
Erie’s final book coming soon
And more, eventually
About the Author
Amelia Hutchins is a WSJ and USAT Bestselling author of the Monsters, The Fae Chronicles, and Nine Realm series. She is an admitted coffee addict who drinks magical potions of caffeine and turns them into magical worlds. She writes alpha-hole males and the alpha women who knock them on their ass, hard. Amelia doesn’t write romance. She writes fast-paced books that go hard against traditional standards. Sometimes a story isn’t about the romance; it’s about rising to a challenge, breaking through it like a wrecking ball, and shaking up entire worlds to discover who they really are. If you’d like to check out more of her work, or just hang out with an amazing tribe of people who enjoy rough men and sharp women, join her at Author Amelia Hutchins Group on Facebook.
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