STORY EXCERPT

The phoenix didn’t register the stale air in his joy to finally give his abused body the long needed oxygen. Finally air. His ribs were showing and his former red-gold hair was a shaggy, dull brown mass of tangled strings. No shine. He preferred to think rather than imagine the crawlies and the dirt in this place and on him. At least he knew he had been protected somewhat in his metal box.

There was light shining on the phoenix from somewhere above. He was too tired to look and feared he was going to die for good this time. He had never felt this weak. The combination of silver bullets, the loss of all his blood, and suffocating time after time in his coffin had taken its toll on his body’s abilities. Even he had a limit and as he felt the cold seep in his bones he reckoned he had reached his. He needed to eat yet he couldn’t find the strength to reach and grab a crawly. He rested his head on a bed of flowers—strange how they grew in the coldness of his crypt—and weakly tried to bite something that moved near his head, only to spit it out when he discovered it bit back.

The noises registered almost too late. The light coming from the now-open door made him react and hide in the darkest corner, using his last bit of energy. His eyelids felt like iron curtains and he absently heard two men enter his resting place. He curled into himself, making his now-skeletal frame a smaller target hidden by one of the tombstones. Their noises hurt his raw senses.

“Man, Daminion is a crazy son of a bitch!”

“Shut up, you moron! I don’t wanna be on his shit list. Things happen to those who piss him off! I heard he sends them to do the nasty military jobs for the government. Most don’t come back whole.”

The young man shivered and continued toward the middle of the third circle of tombs. He might be just a lowly guard compared to his friend, who was a security detail at the mansion, but he knew better than to dis his ruler. He wanted to continue breathing. He had his eyes on that yummy redhead from Ewengreen and being dead or worse would not help his cause.

“Why the hell are we doing this again?”

“Because Daminion said so. You want to ask him his reasons? Just shut up and bring those flowers over here.” Actually he thought it was sweet the devotion their ruler had even in death for his lost mate. Someday he’ll have that, too. Well, minus the dead part. Wow, he was being macabre today!

“I heard he killed his mate himself so why…”

They stopped in front of the disrupted tomb and froze in shock. Where the earth was disturbed, a hole could be seen. A hole in the metal casket. No body in sight. They dropped the seedlings and held the gardening tools as weapons in front of them.

For a moment the phoenix watching them considered his options. Their blood would rejuvenate him. Unfortunately he was too weak to take what he needed to survive. They would probably finish him before he could reach them, but did he have any other option? As he tried to find a last drop of strength, the guards sprinted to the exit. The tension left his body and he slouched against the stone that hid him. He took two more deep breaths, fighting the blackness before he was lost again. His chest didn’t rise again.

* * * *

“What the fuck are you two doing here? Haven’t I told you your tasks already?”

Caden frowned at the two idiot guards, trying to make sense of what were they gesturing with their flying hands. Both were out of breath and were sweating like pigs. He considered again upping the physical training required for guards. He should talk to Kale about some new exercise programs or new triage methods. Lame didn’t cover the state these guards were in. After the paranormal war had ended two years ago, the soldiers had seen hardly any action and it showed. Lost in his musing and worried about his friend, Caden almost missed the younger guard’s words.

“Say what?”

“General, it’s true! We both saw it.”

“Whoa, whoa. Say that again.”

“We both saw it?”

Idiot. He was surrounded by idiots.

“Oh! Yes! The earth is disturbed and there’s this big hole in Daminion’s mate casket. Almost like something got out. The body is missing also.”

Maybe he would reconsider bringing that therapist on board. He had to be hearing things.

“Whose body is missing?”

One of the guards threw him a superior look and he made a note to reassign the cleaning tasks.

“The domin’s mate is missing.”

Caden’s face blanked. He was thinking decapitation. They should know better than to fuck with him.

“The domin’s mate is dead, soldier.”

The guards straightened their posture at the not-so-subtle reminder that Caden was still their general. The stupider one of the two continued with a barely restrained snicker. “Yes, sir. As we were saying his body is missing from the tomb. We went to plant the flowers as ordered and—”

“Whoa, whoa! Back up! You say the tomb is empty, open, and there’s no body?”

Caden felt his blood slowing and a coldness spreading in his veins. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck. This was bad. No, this was catastrophic. Kade would go ballistic. And they’d just finished with the last war!

“Show me.”

“Yes, please do.”

And they were fucked. He turned toward his best friend and totally understood the terror his enemies felt before they were eliminated. Kale’s eyes were so sharp, they cut through you.

ADULT EXCERPT

My mouth made sucking sounds on his dick, looking to incite him further with the dirty sound, and he jumped in his restraints when I scraped the hint of a canine on the side of his dick. Oh, yeah. I was good. I jerked the base of him with my other hand while I swirled my tongue on the head of his dick. He was getting wild under me, jerking hard every time I did an upward move with either my mouth or my hand. I figured I had just a couple of minutes before he was close to climaxing and he was well distracted for the moment by my clever tongue. I had taken the lube out of the nightstand immediately after tying him down and now it was easy enough to reach it and get a couple of my fingers good and slick. I slurped up and met his flaming eyes.

“Like that, do you?” My hand had clamped down hard on the base of his cock, preventing him for reaching his orgasm and I knew that had Kale had his hands free, he would have choked me right now.

“You’re a mean bastard and I’m gonna get you, just you wait.”

I smirked.

“Maybe, maybe not. After all I do have you bound to the bed at my mercy. How does it feel to be my prisoner, mister big, bad and dangerous? What would all your subjects say to see their all-powerful scary domin pleading for pleasure? Pleading for little old me to let him come?”

Hmm. He liked that. He got off on knowing he wasn’t in control of his pleasure, that I had him and could do anything I wanted to him. He relaxed under me and his body glistered with his sweat. He was still battling for control, more for show. I wanted him wild and totally lost. I wanted him to fall so I could catch him. Maybe then he’d realize that I was worthy of his trust.

I stabbed his asshole with one of my lubed fingers and caught his barely there whimper with hungry lips on his sinful mouth. His hole was tight and tightening rhythmically on my finger. I didn’t wait for him to adjust. I knew I wasn’t hurting him by the hungry way his mouth was devouring mine and his dick swelled in the grip of my other hand. He was so tight, I just knew he hadn’t done this before. His reactions, little jerks, and trembles showed how new all this was for my mate. I was honored and determined to make sure he wouldn’t ever regret this night with me.

One finger became two before he even knew it. Actually I don’t think he noticed as he was busy moaning and grinding his dick further down my throat at that moment. I made quick work with the third finger while keeping him distracted with a slow hum on his dick and deemed him ready to take my cock. I wanted to spend a little more time getting acquainted with his cock but I could tell he was again approaching orgasm and I doubted that belt would survive if I denied him again. How to do this? He was taller and bigger than me and to be fair, I didn’t think either of us was ready for a face-to-face fuck. Sure, we were mates but we didn’t know all that much about each other, no? Right.

“Turn around. I want you face down.”

If he looked a bit unsure again I ignored it as first time nerves. He flipped on his belly and arched his back to present his ass like an old seasoned whore. I moaned and I swear I could feel the satisfaction pouring off him at my unrestrained lust. I wanted to spend a little more time preparing him. Hell, who was I kidding? I wanted to indulge in the perfect view and those perfectly firm and meaty cheeks. He was getting tense again, ruining all my hard work of loosening him up.

Oh, well.

He jumped almost clear off the bed when I made the first lick.

“Wha?”

He forgot he could form coherent words after that. Oh, yeah, my dominant and controlling mate become putty in my hands for the feel of my tongue in his ass. I licked around that beautiful hole before stabbing inside again. I had to use almost all my strength to keep my mate where I wanted him as he started to thrash around.

“Ugh!” He must have been totally zonked out if he hadn’t felt me moving behind him. I didn’t push too hard, barely managing to work my dick’s head inside before he clamped down on me, denying me entrance. I rose to my knees and pulled his cheeks apart, mesmerized with the view of my dick almost inside where no one had been before. His back was glistening and all tensed up, curbed as he tried to shy away from the intrusion. His arms strained against the belt and I congratulated myself for having the idea of tying him up. I knew how hard it was the first time and I’d sworn to myself to be patient and not hurt him.

“Shh. Push out. Do it, it’ll be better for you.”

He grunted but slowly relaxed under my hands and I draped myself on his back, mounting him properly. When he pushed out I slowly but firmly pushed in until I felt my balls slap his. Oh man!

“Move, move, move! I’m gonna fucking kill you if you don’t move!”

Never be said I wasn’t a good obeying mate. Yeah, right. Just to torture us both, I slowly retreated, giving him a scare as he thought I was pulling out, just to push back in just as slow. Oh, yeah. We’ll both never going to forget this night.