Succubus Blessed (Paranormal Prison: Shackled Souls Book 3) Page 5

  Furious, Cyril shot a look from one to the other. But Alfred just gazed at him evenly. “You wanted my attention. Now you have it. Touch any of mine, and you will regret it. I have long wanted to repair this rift between us all, but I will sow the earth with your bones before I allow you to lay even a breath on Fiona.”

  Even anticipating it, Maddox wasn’t quite ready for the shock of lightning being flung in all directions. It zapped him, pain lighting up every nerve ending as it danced over him and into Fin. He barely had a chance to brace at the second volley. A crash of sound thundered through the trees, and he didn’t have to look to know Cyril had called in his forces or that Alfred had already engaged.

  They crashed through the trees as Alfred drove him back. Fuck, that lightning hurt.

  Rogue shot a look toward him that wasn’t hard to read. Get Fiona out of here before he turned and took on the mob coming for them. Fin faced the other way, his magic already coming to fill his hands with fire, even as a windstorm lashed out to knock the vamps off their feet.

  Vampires.

  Hordes of them.

  Maddox reached for his dragon but paused when the hands on his back vanished.

  “Kitten,” he snarled, but Alfred sailed through the air to hit the dirt and slid thirty feet, kicking up rocks, dirt, and debris before he slammed into a tree and it cracked from the force of his impact.

  He caught the ancient oak as it toppled on him with one hand, and then flung it like a javelin at Cyril, who charged after him.

  The other barely avoided being hit and tumbled into the grass as he ducked. But the worst thing that Maddox could imagine happened when Cyril snapped his head up and Fiona appeared in front of him, blazing white hot with shadowy looking wings extending from her back as though cast by her own light.

  Wild.

  Beautiful.

  Perfect.

  So not the fucking time.

  Dammit, Kitten.

  She faced off against one of the Seven, and Maddox had zero doubt she intended to fight.

  CHAPTER 5

  “They chose me, but I’m keeping them.” - Anonymous

  FIONA

  I didn’t know who the dick was, but based on Maddox and Fin’s reactions, it couldn’t have been anyone good. Maddox shoving me behind him had been the tiniest bit insulting. I mean, I’d just broken into the prison by myself and staged a rescue. Pretty badass if you asked me, course…they hadn’t asked me.

  Fine, fine. He was protective, and the growl pulsing along the mating bond was all kinds of hot. Even more, it turned my insides all soft and mushy. Not my favorite state to be in when standing on the edge of a prison, covered in gore, while my pants lay in shreds somewhere inside.

  I’d told him over and over, succubi didn’t mate. But I wasn’t just a succubus anymore. I was very much his mate. He was mine. So was Fin.

  When Fin crowded right up to my back and pressed me into Maddox, I thought nothing of it. Nor did I think anything of the tingles of magic fluttering over me like a cloak settling on my shoulders. Fin’s hands were warm, the breath of his kiss against my nape silken. I’d closed my eyes and sank into his touch, and just like that, the whole world had muffled. If not for my hands on Maddox’s scorching hot back, I would have thought I’d turned into a ghost.

  Fucking creepy ass feeling.

  I could hear them, but it was clear after my first spontaneous, “Fuck you, buddy,” they couldn’t hear me. Or see me. I started making faces and cracking myself up. Okay, not so much, but I did stick my tongue out at the asshat a few times. Not asshole, asshat. The Asshole was mine, and this guy? He was just a dick.

  Then Alfred and Rogue were there, and my heart fluttered. I hadn’t seen either of them in a week. Yes, there was a little bit of trepidation. Alfred was bound to be furious with me. Then he said, “The answer is no. She’s my queen. She goes nowhere.”

  Fuck me.

  “Then you want war.”

  “No,” Alfred said. “But if you bring it, you should understand that you will not walk away alive from it. If any of yours come after what is mine, it will be the end of you.”

  Possession swarmed through me, and the bite mark where Alfred had sealed my transition flared with warmth, the sensation of his lips passing over it. He knew I was here, and the stupidest smile pulled at my lips. Thankfully, whatever Fin’s magic had done to me kept my expression hidden. My asshole didn’t need to see me looking at him all dopey and lovestruck.

  Nope, he did not—

  What the actual fuck?

  Lightning exploded out of the dick, and it hit them all, including my dragon. The power of it shivered over him like eddies in a storm and then grounded without ever touching me. There was another wave of them, and then Alfred crashed into the dick and they vanished.

  All hell broke loose.

  Or heaven, I guessed, in this case.

  This guy had to be one of the Seven, because he actually met Alfred swing for swing. There were vampires everywhere. Ice and fire flew as Fin and Rogue launched into the melee, but Maddox stayed right where he was, protecting me. Even though I’d dug my fingers into him, an intense rage I couldn’t define slammed through me when Alfred skidded through the clearing and his whole body cracked into a tree.

  No.

  Just fuck no.

  I let go of Maddox and stalked across the clearing, aware of the tingles bristling over me. Fin’s magic itched now, as though clinging like static to my skin. A huge tree sailed past me, and the asshat ducked as it nearly caught him in the face.

  Pity that.

  It should have.

  I felt more than heard Maddox’s growled, “Kitten,” but as much as I loved him, the rage demanded I act. With a shiver, like I was trying to shake off water, I shed Fin’s cloak, and all the sounds in the clearing—the shrieks of attacking vampires, the sudden cutoff cries of the dying ones, the crackle of flames, the sharp smash of ice, and the crunch of bones—echoed through the air.

  More, I could smell blood and fear. Maybe it shouldn’t have surprised me that the fear came from the asshat. Fear and fury.

  Right back atcha, buddy.

  His dark eyes kindled as they locked on me, and I braced my stance. If he landed a hit, it would probably hurt. So the plan was don’t let him hit me.

  Though I’d take that if it meant he didn’t hit any of my guys with that lightning again, or throw Alfred into any more trees.

  Eyes narrowing, what’s-his-face—sorry, I wasn’t listening when they said his name, or they didn’t say it and I sure as fuck wasn’t calling him ‘my lord’—glared at me. “Succubus.” The pupils in his dark eyes seemed to retract to pinpricks, or maybe it was the sudden flaring light in the clearing. Fortunately, it didn’t bother my eyes in the slightest.

  “Fuckface.”

  He frowned and his hand moved like a blur, but Alfred was suddenly there between us and he thrust the other away. “Hellion,” he said without looking at me. “Go with Maddox.”

  “No,” I told him. “We all go or we all stay.”

  Determination threaded through me like steel lacing my bones. I wasn’t leaving any of them this close to the prison. Not Fin. Not Maddox. Not Rogue. Not my asshole.

  He let out an aggrieved sigh as the other member of the Seven raced back toward us. It was weird. I could almost see him move. It wasn’t a blur so much as he was just out of focus, like a stop motion shutter on a camera. Each click brought him closer and closer.

  I slammed my hand out a split second before he got to us, and the light blazed like it had when Alfred purged the shadow taint from me the second time. Stranger still, the power pulsed right off my hand, and the former angel in front of us—right, all of the Seven were. Including my asshole. Alfred pulled me to him, even as Fuckface flew backwards and cracked through two trees.

  The shouts around us grew louder, and I glared at the vampires swarming in. They were no match for my guys, but I could taste Maddox’s fury, Fin’s irritation, and Rogue’s
annoyance. All of them were so angry on some level, but nothing compared to how incandescent Alfred was next to me. I swore he glowed.

  Glancing at where his hand wrapped on my arm, I stared. We were both glowing. I’d kind of done that earlier when I’d burned Dorran. Not a one off?

  “Um…”

  “Behind me, Hellion.” Alfred thrust me behind him, even as Maddox let out a blistering roar and fire flooded the whole area in front of us. One moment, Fuckface was there, the next, it was a firestorm.

  Rogue and Fin hit me from either side as they gripped Alfred and dragged him backward until the three of them formed a triangle around me. The air shimmered as Fin’s magic bubbled, cutting out the sound of Maddox’s roar, the smell of scorching bodies as vampires turned to ash as did trees, and fuck me, even the rocks cracked and split open just before they exploded.

  Tucked right up against Rogue, I let out a breath. He cooled the air inside the bubble that had been sweat-drenching just seconds earlier. The blaze of red, orange, and yellow suddenly went blue, and I swore my eyes had to have rounded.

  How hot did my dragon’s fire get?

  Very hot, Beautiful. His mate was about to take on one of the Seven. He could burn this whole mountainside down then take out the city, so let’s take a beat and not rush into danger again.

  I scowled. “I had it handled.”

  “Yes, little sváss,” Rogue said in an almost absently soothing tone. “You did very well, and we’ll discuss the fact you took off on us—”

  “Again,” Alfred ground out.

  “—later,” Rogue finished, as though Alfred hadn’t spoken.

  “Discuss it all you want,” I said. “I had to come get them.”

  “It’s okay, Beautiful,” Fin soothed and stroked a hand over my hair. “We need to go now.”

  “Maddox!” Alfred called, the command in his voice unmistakable as Fin tangled his fingers in my hair and tugged me toward him. Rogue’s arms tightened around me, and Alfred didn’t let me go much farther either, but then Fin kissed me and the heat around us eased almost at once.

  “Really fucking funny, Fin,” Maddox growled as Fin swept his tongue around mine and stole my breath. A glow inside of me just amped brighter with every contact, and then I was plucked from all of them and wrapped up against Maddox’s chest, and I let out a laugh of delight.

  Genuine delight speared me.

  Except…

  Arms around Maddox, I glanced past his shoulder to the devastated and scorched areas of blackened earth. Nothing moved. Very little was even standing.

  “Closer,” Fin urged, and he pressed to my side, even as Rogue and Alfred boxed in around me. Magic swirled in the air, but movement amongst the dark ash had me narrowing my eyes. Charred like a nightmare, the figure rose and opened its eyes.

  Holy crap.

  I opened my mouth to warn them but the world blurred around us as Fin’s magic pulled us all along on a spiraling journey that dumped us from the smoky ruins beyond the prison to the snowy recesses just outside the keep. The frigid air had me curling closer to Maddox, who kept an arm banded around me.

  Then he pivoted, pulling me away from them as he stalked toward the keep.

  “Maddox.”

  Only his name and my dragon halted, his whole body tensing. “Not now, Alfred. I need time with her before we have this discussion.”

  “We have to have it now,” Rogue answered, not Alfred, and I twisted in Maddox’s arms to look back at them. Both Rogue and Alfred stood like yin and yang sentinels in competing dark and light, with the setting sun blazing orange and red behind them. As much as I’d had to go for Fin and Maddox, I’d missed my asshole and Rogue.

  Alfred caught my gaze, and for a split-second, I could have sworn he winked. But his expression remained unchanged, so maybe I just imagined it.

  A growl rumbled in Maddox’s chest, and I smoothed a hand over his shoulder. “I’m not going anywhere,” I promised him. All of them really. “I have all four of you back now, I don’t need to flee.”

  Fin sighed. “Bath. We can eat, bathe, and then you can steal her away after we’re done, but they’re right…we do need to talk.”

  I swore Maddox’s growl deepened. “Fine,” he snarled. “Get the food and the drink ready. We’ll be there in a minute.”

  A squeak of sound escaped me as he fled into the keep, and then we were through the main hall and up to the wing where our rooms were, but he didn’t slow until we were inside my rooms and he had me pinned to the wall.

  “Kitten,” Maddox said in a rough voice, and I hitched my thighs higher on his hips as I reached between us. His cock was hard and hot in my hands, and it took no urging for me to line him up, but when I would have sank down, he thrust in deep enough my toes curled. “I don’t know if I can be gentle,” he warned, and it was a battle.

  The muscles in his neck were rigid, and his expression fierce. Despite all of that, he held himself completely still, even if he shook, and his grip on me—though tight—was not painful. Cupping his face, I ignored the smoky scent and the ash, blood, and sweat streaking his skin and probably mine, and kissed him.

  Taut lips softened under mine and then his tongue swept forward, demanding access, and I opened to him. It took one roll of my hips, and he began to piston into me, not once letting go of my mouth as we fought to consume each other. I slid my fingers down to the mark at the juncture of where his neck met his shoulder.

  Powerful emotion swarmed through me—love, longing, need, and even aggravation and irritation that I’d risked myself. Laughter tore out of my throat at the thorny emotions stabbing me, even as he swallowed the sound. I dug my fingers into his hair, fisting it as he began to swell, and when he finally released my mouth to kiss down my throat, I sighed.

  The need to feel his teeth held me captive as much as the fact that he impaled me on his cock over and over again. Then a whisper of a kiss, a near silent plea. He wouldn’t bite without me telling him yes, so I dragged him closer. “I’m yours,” I reminded him. “You’re mine.”

  My vision whited out as his teeth sank in and his knot swelled with his relief, and my whole body bucked against both as pleasure drowned me in waves. It was like the final bit of the puzzle settled where it belonged, and I floated on rapture, a contentment I’d never known filling my veins. Gradually, the pulls at my throat eased, and he pressed kisses along my skin to my jaw, then behind my ear, and finally over my closed eyelids. Whispering brushes of his lips to my flesh, and I smiled at the tenderness rolling off of him.

  His knot loosened far swifter than it usually did and a sluggish part of my mind wondered, but he shifted his hold on me as he came free and I whimpered.

  “Shh, Kitten,” he murmured, his voice far silkier and relaxed than earlier. The beast in him had been satisfied, and I had to smile. My dragon needed me, and what a terrifying thought that had once been. He carried me from the room, and Alfred leaned against the far wall, arms folded. I gave him a sleepy smile, and he let out a grunt of sound before reaching over to press a finger to my cheek.

  “You need to trust us more, Hellion.”

  “I do trust you,” I told him, head tucked securely to Maddox’s shoulder as they fell into step side by side. The path we followed would take us to the bathing room, and I couldn’t wait to get all the gore off. “But I had to get them. I told you they were hurting them.”

  All at once, the memory of the whip marks on Fin’s back resurfaced and the endless days of feeling Maddox’s roars deep in my blood.

  “Tell her,” Alfred said as he pulled open the door. Rogue stood near a huge table laden with food—oh, and there was bacon. My stomach rumbled.

  “Tell me after I eat and have a bath,” I suggested around a yawn. “I figure someone is probably going to try and spank me in there.”

  “No one is spanking you, Kitten.”

  Alfred snorted, but he peeled me out of Maddox’s arms easily, and I tilted my head as he balanced me while helping Maddox strip off
what was left of my clothes. I was utterly boneless and tired.

  “Drink, Hellion,” Alfred murmured as he tucked me close to his throat. “You fed both of them, and you’ve fought and not fed…”

  “I don’t want anyone else’s blood,” I reminded him with a grimace, even as I teased my tongue over the mark on his neck. The mark I’d given him. It was my turn to nuzzle his neck. If he wasn’t going to scold me or rail at me, I could get on board with this. Why the fuck was I so tired?

  “Drink, Hellion,” he repeated, and this time, he cupped my head and held me in place. Oh right, he’d told me that before. I sank my teeth in, and at the first swelling drop of his blood, I sighed. Memories raced through me, not as powerful or visceral as the first time, but more like snapshots of battles.

  A feeling of falling, of wings sheering away, of profound loss and agonizing pain. Tears welled in my eyes. Beyond all of that was the isolation as the twelve who would become the Seven faced each other, bloodied, wounded, and discarded from all they’d known.

  Resentment swelled.

  Grief thrashed them.

  In the end, rather than pull together, they abandoned each other.

  The first seeds of war planted…

  A sob clawed at my throat because I hated that Alfred had ever felt this way, he eased my head back and frowned down at me. “I’m sorry, Hellion.”

  Words I’d never imagined hearing.

  “You weren’t supposed to see that, but…”

  “You can’t stop thinking about it after facing Fuckface.”

  Rogue spit out his drink, laughter erupting from him in a hot masculine wave that swept over Fin and then Maddox. Even Alfred’s eyes gentled and a faint smile creased his face. “Cyril.”

  “Whatever,” I told him, far more interested in that smile than I was in talking about Fuckface. “I’m happy.”

  “Are you now?”

  “Yep,” I said, then licked my lips. “Are you really mad at me?”

  “I should be,” he admitted. “I was absolutely furious when I discovered you’d bolted your door from the inside…”