The Lion Soul by Amy Sumida
Chapter Twenty-Two
We mingled for another hour or so, prowling through the press of silk and fur, drinking rosewater and honey, ignoring the soft moans and slide of flesh behind beaded curtains, and generally navigating the endless web of seduction and danger that was the Lion Court.
“Have you ever spent time behind one of those curtains?” I asked with a glance at one of the beaded veils.
Kaelen grinned. “Did you want to indulge? That one is free.” He waved at a curtain that had been drawn back. A silk couch waited there, wide enough to hold several people.
Images of riding Kaelen on that couch, the crystal curtain shivering from our movements, and Lions moving beyond it, flashed in my mind. I inhaled slowly and deeply to push down the spike of lust and suddenly saw the appeal. We'd be having sex in public and yet not, experiencing a delicious thrill while remaining mostly unseen. But the courtiers would hear us and see the shadows of our bodies, maybe even more than that, and that wrecked the fantasy for me.
“No,” I finally said.
Kaelen chuckled. “That took a while. Are you sure?”
“You haven't answered my question.”
“Yes, I've been behind the curtains. I'm a Lion, and we like sex with,”—he leaned down and nipped my ear—“a little bite.”
I grunted and looked at the Queen's couch. “Have you been up there?”
“You mean before today?” His grin broadened as he led me toward the Queen.
“What are you doing?”
“We have to bid the Queen goodnight before we can leave.”
I looked over his wry grin and bright eyes, then grunted softly.
“No, I've never been with Queen Vervain,” he said just before we reached her. “She's not my type.”
Kae's hand slid over my ass and squeezed before he stepped forward and bowed to the Queen. We made our formal farewell and thanked her once more, then hurried from the room and out of the palace, exchanging hot looks the entire way. Then we were in the carriage, and Kaelen slid in close beside me to tease me with kisses, light brushes of fingertips over my thigh, and whispered words of what he would have done to me behind a crystal curtain. By the time we pulled up before his front steps, I was nearly bursting out of my pants. We hurried from the carriage to the elevator and as soon as the panel slid closed, we were upon each other.
Lips melding and hands pulling at each other's clothing, we stepped out of the elevator blindly, shuffling into the garden. We moved forward, leaving a trail of clothing behind us, and when we finally had bare skin beneath our eager hands, we gave up on trying to reach the bed and dropped to the tiled floor.
Cool stone beneath me and warm skin above me, I was in heaven. Backlit by a night sky full of stars, Kaelen looked like a mythical creature—a man of such beauty that he couldn't possibly exist. His circlet lay on his tunic somewhere near the elevator, so his hair swung forward freely to brush my cheek as he settled his body over mine.
Kaelen's kiss was wild, full of passion and teeth, and he moved it from my lips to my throat with an ease that felt more like inspired arousal than practiced skill. He'd doubtless had many lovers, much more than I, but the way he touched me didn't feel like something learned but rather something he was learning. As if our lovemaking was a new magic and my body, undiscovered territory for him to work that magic upon.
Hot tongue lapping my skin and sharp teeth nipping me with care. The languorous rub of a hard jaw on my belly. The clawing motion of soft fingertips. No one had ever touched me like this before. Indulgently. Possessively. I arched up against Kaelen as sounds of need rumbled through my chest. His teeth closed over my pulse, and I went still, even the hands I'd threaded through his hair froze. Kae growled in approval against my skin, then released me to lick at the mark he'd left.
“My handsome Shirie,” Kae whispered, the words sounding even more sensual in the dark.
I pushed up, catching Kaelen unawares, and rolled him onto his back. His eyes widened, their jewel color darkened by shadows. When I shifted between his thighs and moved down his body, a growl of pleasure rumbled through his chest. It vibrated against my lips as I kissed his smooth skin, making me smile. His cock was an urgent pressure against my belly, but I took my time licking the outlines of his muscles and nibbling at the tight buds of his nipples as I breathed in that intoxicating scent that was all Kaelen. When I sucked a dusky nipple into my mouth, he cried out and grabbed the back of my head to pull me closer. While I was busy tonguing that tight bud, Kae unwound my braid and spread my hair over my back, then ran his hands through it.
I looked up and met his stare as I moved lower, my hair pooling around us. The tip of my tongue flicked into his belly button, and his grip on my hair tightened. I loved the feel of that fist but pulled against it, needing to go even lower. His rich scent grew thicker, darker, as his shaft slid against my chest, right between my pectorals. The tip nudged my chin, and I angled my head to slide my face against it as if it were his cheek. The glorious length twitched and wept, a precious bead gleaming in the moonlight like a jewel atop his crown. I licked it up.
“Rie!” Kaelen shouted.
I stroked the whole of him then, running my hand down from tip to base, then beyond—over his heavy sacs and along that silken skin below. Kaelen spread his legs wide, knees bent into the plants that surrounded us, and presented me with my prize. I groaned just to see him like that. The perfect length of him filled my grip. So thick, so long. Hard like stone. Soft like velvet. And the scent of him fit our surroundings. Too wild to be upon a civilized bed. Too precious to be laid in the dirt. Kaelen smelled like a primeval forest—rich, fertile earth, resinous wood, and the savage things that roamed there, but also ripe citrus, zesty and sweet. I couldn't wait to take him into my mouth.
Licking my lips, I lowered my face to his cock and then pressed against him. Just a kiss. But that wouldn't satisfy either of us. I groaned as I opened my mouth and flowed over him, taking as much of that silken steel as I could. Kaelen's grip eased and slipped away, almost as if he feared what he'd do if he kept it there. He was tense beneath me, trembling as I worked up and down, my lips tightening around his girth and tongue laving his length. Then a rough breath shot free of him, and his palm went to my cheek to push back my hair.
“Your mouth is magic,” Kae moaned.
I sped up, taking him deeper and deeper until he was slipping down my throat. Kaelen writhed beneath me, hands bracketing my face and long fingers in my hair. I could feel the tension in him as he tried to hold back. It felt like a challenge, so I sucked at him even more ardently as I rubbed his base with my hand. At last, Kaelen gave a broken cry as his grip tightened to hold my face still. I released him and braced my hands to either side of his hips, excitement lashing through me as the Lion Lord lost control and started pumping upward into my mouth. I caught his savage stare to let him see how much I loved it, how much I wanted him to show me this side of him. To give me everything, both civilized and wild.
Kae's eyes flashed with lust as he bared his teeth at me. My sweet, smiling lover was gone, consumed by a brutal creature whose sole need was to mate. His sacs slapped my chin with the force of his thrusts and harsh grunts panted past his teeth. He started to pull me down with every upward thrust until I was taking all of him—a feat I would have thought impossible. Kaelen growled in approval but didn't relent. If anything, he grew even more wild, speeding up until I feared that I might scrape him with my teeth.
Then, stare locked on mine, Kaelen's jaws parted on a guttural roar, and he gave one last thrust. The flavor of salt and man filled my mouth, and I swallowed eagerly, needing as much of him inside me as I could get. He came in what seemed like an endless stream, then fell back, his face going slack with bliss and his hands releasing their brutal grip to slide down to my cheeks tenderly.
“Rie,” Kaelen panted, “I'm so sorry.”
I sucked the last drops off his cock and rose onto my forearms with a proud grin. “Why? Can't you get it up again?”
Kaelen's eyes widened. “That wasn't too brutal for you?”
“It will only be brutal if you leave me like this.” I straightened to my knees and waved a hand at my straining erection.
Kaelen chuckled, his stare going tender as he reached for my shaft. “I would never be so cruel.”
His hand coated me in nectar, and I groaned as I let my head fall back, my hands braced on his thick thighs.
Kaelen sighed, his free hand sliding up my chest to tease a nipple. “I'm afraid we won't get much sleep tonight, my sweet Shirie. I'm going to fuck you every way that a man can be fucked.”
I looked down and grinned smugly at his rising cock. “This is a promising start.” I got to my feet, easing out of his grip. “But I'm not convinced that you have what it takes, Lion Lord.” I went to a nearby bench and bent over it, then looked at him over my shoulder. “Prove it.”
With a savage snarl, the Lion Lord pounced.
I gripped the stone edge as he pierced me, my body arching instinctively to take him deeper. With animal grunts, Kae worked himself into me, only realizing halfway in that he hadn't coated himself in nectar. He made a frustrated sound, pulled out, lubricated himself, then shoved back in. We groaned together in bliss as his slick cock sheathed itself to the hilt.
My warlord gathered my hair and wrapped it around his fist, then used it as leverage to pull himself deeper. The slap of flesh resonated in my ears and the scent of aroused man filled my nose. Pleasure shot through me, shoved deep by Kaelen's cock, but when he reached down and took my shaft in his hand, it crested instantly. I cried out, shouting his name, and came over the tiled floor. With a trembling sigh, I collapsed on the bench, but Kaelen never paused his deep thrusting.
“Is that all you've got, little Shirie?” Kaelen growled and kept stroking my cock.
“Stop,” I panted. “It's too much.”
“Never,” he vowed and bit my shoulder.
I shouted in bliss as my dick rose again. I have great stamina, but no one has been able to bring me to arousal as quickly as Kaelen, especially not directly after a release. Kae worried at my shoulder as if he might tear me apart and drove his cock into my ass like a rutting beast, all while he pumped me back into shivering bliss. But then, suddenly, he released my shaft, leaving me to hang and throb. Keeping me wanting as he slowed his thrusting to a hedonistic pace.
Kae opened his jaws and straightened, his hands going to my ass to spread me wide. “Mine,” he growled. “This sweet ass is mine.” He rubbed a nectar-drenched finger around my stretched hole.
I shivered, surprised that I enjoyed his possessiveness.
“Say it,” he growled.
I may have enjoyed hearing him say it, but I wasn't going to repeat it. I growled as my response.
“You want me to prove that I have what it takes to make you mine? I will, Rie. I will prove it until the sun rises upon your cum-covered body. I will fill you until it drips down your thighs and the golden skin of your throat. I will fuck you until you scream that you're mine.”
The Lion Lord, as usual, was true to his word.
