Succubus Unchained Read online

  Succubus Unchained

  Shackled Souls 2

  Heather Long

  Copyright © 2020 by Heather Long

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover by: Christian Bentulan

  Editing: Bookish Dreams Editing

  For my sanity!

  Feel free to come back anytime.

  Contents

  Paranormal Prison Collection

  Succubus Unchained

  Author’s Note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Thank you

  About Heather Long

  Also by Heather Long

  Welcome to Nightmare Penitentiary

  Siren Condemned by C.R. Jane and Mila Young

  Delinquent Demons by K. Webster

  Conveniently Convicted by Raven Kennedy & Ivy Asher

  Noir Reformatory by Lexi C. Foss & Jennifer Thorn

  Blindly Indicted by Katie May

  Wraith Captive by Lacey Carter Andersen

  Stolen Song by Autumn Reed & Ripley Proserpina

  Prison Princess by CoraLee June & Rebecca Royce

  Succubus Chained by Heather Long

  Siren Sacrificed by C.R. Jane & Mila Young

  Succubus Unchained by Heather Long

  Succubus Unchained

  Shackled Souls Book 2

  Nightmare Penitentiary

  I’d become a damn vampire after all.

  I never wanted or asked for this. What began as a one-night stand earned me a stint in prison, the attention of a shadow demon, and rescue by three devastating—to my system—males along with the declaration that I was their foretold something…

  Yeah.

  No.

  To win this war and regain my freedom, I had to give up part of who I am and become something other. Now, Maddox calls me his mate, Fin labels me his lady, Alfred has declared I’m to be his queen. But I’m with Rogue on this one.

  I’m trouble, and they have no idea what I’m going to do.

  Author’s Note

  Thanks for picking up Succubus Unchained. If you haven’t read Succubus Chained, I encourage you to pause for a second and go grab that. This story picks up where that one left off.

  For those of you who have never read a reverse harem before, thanks for picking this up and giving it a shot. A reverse harem means the heroine will not make a choice in this book or any other between the guys in her life. It may take her a while to reach that conclusion, but it’s the journey that drives it. There are many ways to frame this kind of relationship, currently reverse harem fits it very well.

  While there may be no specific happy endings at the end of each of these books, there will be one to the whole trilogy, that I promise you. Some of these books will have cliffhangers, largely due to the size of the story, but the happy ending has to be earned as part of the journey.

  Thank you again for reading Fiona’s story and I truly hope you enjoy it!

  xoxo

  Heather

  Warning, this book contains aggressively snarky characters, a bit of twisted humor and a lot of passion.

  Heather Long

  Chapter 1

  “The most dangerous animal in the world is the silent, smiling woman.” - Anonymous

  Seven weeks, six days, and something like fourteen hours since I made the worst mistake of my life. Arguably, the last mistake of my life.

  The little fucker was still out there, somewhere. I didn’t obsess. Not aloud. Not where any of them could hear me.

  It was just narrowly four weeks since Maddox appeared in my cell and thrust me onto the next hellish level of my journey. The worst part? I liked him.

  More than I cared to admit.

  A scant few days with him, Rogue, and Fin, and then Alfred woke up. And in the three plus weeks since then, I’d not been out of Alfred’s sight for longer than a few moments. Even then, I was pretty sure the ancient asshole had eyes on me. Like right now, I sat on a rock in the middle of the garden and a dozen crows fluttered about or perched. They’d arrived as soon as I had.

  It didn’t matter that Alfred had been ‘asleep’ when I dragged myself from his bed or that Fin had been sprawled on my other side. It wasn’t until this week that Alfred even let me spend any time with the others.

  The fact that I’d started to miss them just aggravated me even more.

  I’d lost count of how many times I’d died over the last few weeks. Something had changed. Irrevocably. Something he had to know because this morning, I’d also woken to clothes waiting for me. Alfred’s chambers were large, fit for a king. Furnished, it was filled with comfortable sofas and lounging chairs. My favorite—not that I had any interest in it mind you—was the fainting couch placed in the perfect position to look out the oversized windows toward the valley.

  Toward freedom.

  The sun streaked in through that window for several hours a day, and I could doze there and pretend to get a tan. Not that I imagined I’d get one. I hadn’t really tanned before.

  The clothing had been new. The long-sleeved Henley and jeans had been like a gift to slide on after weeks wearing a rotating selection of robes and kitten slippers. Occasionally, I’d been able to steal a shirt.

  Occasionally.

  It never lasted.

  They, more often than not, shredded the shirts in their lust.

  You might think it weird that I complained about that part. Succubus and all that, but even I had my limits. Not even a wrinkle of hunger pinched at me. I’d never been so full.

  The fact that I craved any of them at all must be put down to the dementia formed by being trapped.

  I despised Fin for his cheer and playfulness. I despised how he teased and dared me to play with him. I despised that even when I told him I detested him, he looked at me with sad, adoring eyes. I despised him for plucking at my thoughts, until I’d finally managed to push him out and keep him out. Even mid-orgasm, he couldn’t secret his way in anymore.

  I detested Rogue for his icy demeanor and all-to-knowing eyes. At least he didn’t make promises only to break them. He didn’t pretend to like me, either. Worse, he pitied me. Bastard.

  I hated Maddox because he made me care about him. He loathed that the others hadn’t kept his word. Not enough to help me escape them, but he’d promised all I had to do was listen and then they’d let me go. At least he had the decency to feel guilty about it. Not that I’d admit it aloud. Mate. He’d mated me or I’d mated him. I could pretend I hadn’t been involved, but I hadn’t forgotten the day he wanted me to bite him and I’d given in, or how it had unlocked something inside of me.

  I didn’t want to care. I hated him for making me feel that way. Relationships and succubi did not mix. Not long-term. Now, I was his mate?

  The dragon’s roars the day Alfred—that asshole—began my true “transition” echoed in my mind every time I considered my escape like the real bars on the cage they’d constructed around me.

  Rubbing a hand against my neck, I sighed. The scar there had flattened and gone almost pure white against my skin. Even paler than the rest of me. The ridges, once defined and puffy, were smooth. The bites littering
my arms, breasts, abdomen, and thighs had also faded, healing as if they hadn’t been.

  The sharpness of my canines couldn’t be missed. Though they were hardly as sharp as the guys’, mine could pierce skin—Maddox’s, Fin’s, Rogue’s, and Alfred’s. The night before had also marked the first time since my arrival I hadn’t been drained nor needed to feed on any of them.

  My transition or whatever was complete.

  Not that Alfred—the asshole—had said a word. He’d merely cupped my chin, then stared at me for a long moment before he’d nodded and left me alone. Not a single sentence or utterance.

  Fin crept in when I’d been working out my next steps, and he’d curled around me, asking for nothing, and even as hard as I tried to ignore him—it made me feel like the bad guy.

  Why the fuck did I feel even an ounce of guilt over these guys? They didn’t deserve it.

  What little loyalty I’d been cultivating died a swift and painful death the day Alfred found me in this garden. Not once had he bitten me anywhere but my neck. The flattened scar pulsed at the memory.

  I hated him for that, too.

  Aggravation struck flint inside of me, kindling a whole new fire. The door opened, the creak of it the only warning before the scent of coffee teased at my nose, but I didn’t bother with turning to look.

  The rough scrape of denim over rock rasped in the bitterly cold air as the dragon settled next to me. The heat rolling off him buffeted the chill I’d been ignoring, and it took everything I had not to lean into him. Then he cheated and held the oversized tumbler of coffee in front of me.

  Half of my grumpy fled when face to face with the giver of life. Shut up, I was more than aware of the irony. Yes, I was a vampire and a succubus, and coffee was the secret key to my soul.

  Tipping my head to the side, I met his quiet gaze and did my damnedest to ignore the hope flaring in his eyes. The barest hint of a smile touched the corners of his lips. “Good morning, Kitten.”

  My fingers collided with his as I took the tumbler, and he didn’t pull away as we both lifted it to my lips, nor did he look away as I took a long swallow of it. Of the four of them, Maddox was the one who’d been kept away the most. Alfred blocked him time and again.

  This was the first time we’d been alone together since Alfred woke. Sighing, I lowered the tumbler and leaned my head against his shoulder. Maddox half-sagged as if someone cut the string on all his tension. He wrapped his free arm around me and pulled me close.

  “You’re better,” he murmured, pressing his lips to my crown. It wasn’t a question. I was better. The soreness and the exhaustion were both gone. The sting from so many half-healed bites had been erased along with their marks on me.

  “I suppose,” was all I’d comment on that, but I couldn’t help the “Missed me?” I added on.

  “Yes,” he answered without hesitation. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

  It wasn’t his fault. He didn’t even have to explain it. Alfred—the asshole—controlled everything. Apparently, even them. Though he didn’t throw Alfred under the bus.

  “I’m here now,” he offered. “What can I get for you?”

  Since he brought me coffee, I really didn’t need anything else. Well, at least nothing I would ask him for. I wanted to leave. But anytime I brought that up, there were always reasons I couldn’t.

  I needed to finish transition.

  I needed to have the shadow taint purged from me.

  I needed to accept what I was.

  I needed to be a vampire.

  Well, mission fucking accomplished. But a million dollars said they wouldn’t let me leave now. Not with all the changes to the keep going on. It was open and airy now. Fires burned in many of the fireplaces. A generator had been added, and Fin even brought in a huge screened television and DVD player. No digital, not yet.

  I guess WiFi was hard to get in Shangri-fucking-la.

  “Nothing.”

  “Kitten,” Maddox prodded gently, pressing another kiss to my hair and igniting a wave of tenderness I fought to ignore. I would not go soft on the dragon. I didn’t ask for this. “Tell me something I can do for you.”

  The note of pleading wormed its way under my skin, and I scowled. I pictured his face when I slammed my knee into his nuts in that cell. The anger in his voice when he caught up to me, and the rumble of his growl when I sat in the corner and ignored him in favor of building my house.

  My house.

  A shudder went through me, and Maddox squeezed me. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” I said again. Maybe if I denied it enough it would be true. My house wasn’t really mine anymore. Alfred had pulled the whole thing apart and explored every inch of the construction when he fed on me, and then submerged me into his colorful and bloody history while I drained him. I knew too much about him now—the manipulations, the control, and the power he wielded without a second thought. His bonds with Rogue, Maddox, and Fin meant everything to him, and while Fin was more a son than a brother, Rogue and Maddox were definitely his brothers.

  It went beyond fondness and friendship. They were family, and no matter how they bickered, they would never choose me over each other. Not even Maddox, who promised I didn’t have to stay.

  His word only held value if his brothers backed it. That helped to insulate me from the tenderness swelling inside, deflating it.

  A growl rumbled in his chest as I pulled away, but the arm locked around me loosened, even if he didn’t let me scoot far. I drank the coffee and kept my gaze fixed on the blue sky overhead. The scent of snow floated on the air. It was crisper, sharper, and more intense, just like everything else. Colors were deeper and richer. Scents far more provocative. And tastes? I could dissect every part of the coffee if I focused.

  Fin had tried to tell me being a vampire wasn’t so bad when it added so much to my senses. Unfortunately, I could taste all the bullshit he layered onto those sentiments, too.

  “I should probably eat,” I said, aware that expressing any kind of desire was the fastest way to getting Maddox to let up. I didn’t look at him as I slid off the rock. In addition to clothes, I’d also scored shoes. These were more like hiking or combat boots—all function and no style.

  That was fine.

  They were an improvement on kitten slippers.

  Maddox was my heated shadow all the way inside. He trailed me up the stairs to the library where, as with every other day, a virtual buffet had been set out. There was always bacon. Since the first morning Fin brought it back to me, bacon had been included in every breakfast. I filled my plate and carried it over to my favorite chair near the fireplace. It had become my favorite because none of them could sit next to me.

  Though Maddox settled on the floor right in front of me with his back pressed against my legs. I bit back a reaction and focused on eating. If the day followed pattern, it wouldn’t be long before my other keepers tracked me down. They often convened here each morning. Like me, Maddox ate. Fin had to have already been up since the food was here, but since I never saw it come or go, who knew how it arrived.

  The shuffle of an unfamiliar step, however, jerked me forward in the chair, and I cut a look behind us toward the room.

  A man I didn’t know made his way through with a cloth, wiping things down.

  “That’s Anton,” Maddox said, as if the name alone explained everything. “He will serve as librarian here. There will be more retainers arriving. Some came in last night.”

  Retainers.

  I tracked Anton’s progress. As if aware of me, the brunet paused to meet my gaze, and there was a flash of teeth as he smiled.

  Vampire.

  At Maddox’s rumbling growl, however, Anton dropped his gaze and bowed to me.

  Oh for the love of…

  I turned my back on him and glared at the fire. The ‘retainer’ continued his task of wiping things down.

  “They will not bother you, Kitten,” Maddox told me as if that was my concern. “They know
their place.”

  Did they now?

  “Good morning, Beautiful,” Fin called as he strolled in. I took a sip of coffee and said nothing before returning to my food. He hummed as he stopped next to my chair, and his gaze rested on me like a soft weight. With care, he waited until I lowered my fork and then pressed a kiss to my temple. “Not talking to me today?”

  The barest hint of a wounded tone crept into his voice.

  “She’s hungry,” Maddox said with a scowl. “Leave her alone.”

  I didn’t need him to fight my battles for me. “I also have nothing to say,” I tacked on, and then took another bite of bacon.

  Feathering his hand over my hair, Fin tugged one curl. “You look better.”

  I grunted.

  He lingered for another couple of heartbeats, and then his hand fell away as he moved to collect his own breakfast. The sudden chill prickling over my skin warned me of the new arrivals, even if their silent footfalls didn’t. Rogue said nothing to me as he gathered his own drink and food. Alfred bypassed all of it and plucked me out of the chair despite Maddox’s snarl.

  The dragon rose to follow, and the two glared at each other as I balanced both my plate and tumbler. Fortunately, neither fell. Honestly, I didn’t have time for this. I just wanted a meal in peace.

  “You’ve had her for days,” Maddox said. “Leave her alone.”

  “I’m not harming her,” Alfred countered. “Your mood, however, is far more dangerous.”