Kissed by a Dark Prince (Eternal Mates Series Book 1) - Sample by Felicity Heaton (ebook reader .txt) 📖

The council took great pleasure in reminding him of that and Loren could never argue against it. His duty was to his people and he would do all in his power to protect them.

Even kill his brother.

He wasn’t sure he had the strength to do it though. Whenever he saw Vail, he wanted to capture him and bring him home. He wanted to save him and he hesitated because of it, allowing his brother to escape.

Now, Loren feared that it was a fool’s dream and that he would live to see his kingdom fall and his people suffer because of his love for his brother.

Because of his inability to place his people before his only family.

The council weren’t on the battlefield to see what he witnessed. Whenever he met Vail in battle, they dealt each other blows, but it had always felt as though they were toying with each other, neither of them desiring the death of the other.

The times when Vail’s female were present were different though. The witch had been present at many of their fights over the centuries and each time Vail had been a savage, wild man, focused and determined. The sight of his brother like that left Loren with the feeling that his brother had completely lost his mind.

Whenever they had crossed swords without Kordula present, Vail still seemed crazed, but not savage or mindless. He flitted between attacking and retreating, as though he was split between them, his mind torn in two.

Loren heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose.

He still ached. No longer the ache of arousal. The wounds on his body were healing but sore, a lingering reminder that Vail was dangerous and had almost killed him this time.

Why now?

He couldn’t recall everything that had happened. There were pieces missing and he had a strong urge to return to the female doctor and finish finding out how she had come across him.

Not a wise idea.

Common sense warned that he really wanted to return to her because he had another strong urge, the one that occupied his dreams and had him rising beneath the sheets again.

Loren sat up and shifted his legs over the left edge of his expansive mattress. He shed the dark purple sheets and rose from the bed, stretched and tried to ignore how hard he was again. It was no use. He had ignored it for two days and it wasn’t going to go away until he found release. Many in his court would suggest finding a female to slake himself on but he didn’t want a stranger in his bed, a female who would be there under orders no doubt, doing her duty for the kingdom.

He hadn’t bedded a woman since long before he had gone to war with Vail. He wasn’t going to start now. He wanted his ki’ara. His fated female. He wanted the one destined to be his forever.

He crossed the room, heading towards the arch to his right, beyond the wardrobes that lined the opposite side of the wall to his bed. His bathing room was half the size of his bedroom, all dark stone on the floor and walls. A beautiful crystal chandelier hung above the bathing pool that was set into the floor. The crystals shone in different colours, casting them around the room.

Loren bent and swept his hand through the water in the large square pool. It was warm. He stepped down into it and sunk under the surface, holding his breath and letting the water heat every inch of him. Coloured light rippled and danced across the surface above, and a sense of peace flowed through him. When the need to breathe became urgent, he broke the surface and moved to the side of the pool closest to his bedroom. He leaned back against it and closed his eyes, resting the back of his head on the edge.

Thoughts of the female instantly invaded the darkness behind his closed eyes. Loren focused on the warmth surrounding him and how peaceful he had felt while under the surface, trying to shut them out. His cock ached again, rigid beneath the water. Loren ignored that too. He would soak to ease his tired muscles and sore body, and then he would rise and dress, and would speak with Bleu.

The female danced back into his mind, wearing the parted white coat and very little beneath. He pictured her standing across from him, at the edge of the pool there, her brown eyes dark with desire as she raked them over him.

She cocked her head to one side and ran her fingers down her chest, circling her breasts with them, shifting the two sides of the white coat and flashing her dark nipples. He groaned and she smiled, hooked her fingers into her coat and slowly opened it, revealing all of her to his eyes. She let the material slide down her body and pool around her bare feet, and then stepped into the water.

Loren swallowed hard, transfixed by her as she waded towards him, her hips swaying with each leisurely step, teasing him.

He ran his arms along the edge of the pool, waiting for her.

The female stopped before him and he held one hand out to her. She slipped hers into it and he lured her down to him. She pressed one knee beside his thigh and straddled him. Loren swallowed again and eased lower in the water, took hold of her hips, and brought her into position above his hard length.

The head of him nudged into her hot sheath and she moaned, easing down onto him, taking him deep. Loren clutched her hips and groaned as he raised her off him and then brought her back down, setting a slow pace this time. She held on to his shoulders, causing his markings to shimmer brightly, and began to ride him, seizing control of their lovemaking. Loren let her, laying back and enjoying the feel of her taking him into her body, squeezing and releasing him, making him buck beneath her. She smiled whenever he thrust upwards, unable to help himself, and rode him harder and faster, until they were both panting and moaning, lost in the moment.

She arched backwards and cried out her release. The feel of her quivering around him pulled him over the edge. He growled as he grasped her hips, slammed her down onto him, and spilled himself, pleasure rushing through his veins and stealing his senses. He breathed hard, trying to bring himself down, his thighs trembling.

Loren didn’t want to open his eyes.

He didn’t want to witness the result of the erotic acts of his dreams becoming fantasies that invaded his waking hours too.

Loren peeled his hand away from his still-throbbing length, reached under the water and pulled the chain on the large stone plugging the bottom. The water immediately began to rush down the drain. He stepped out of the pool, dried himself off with a square of thick purple cloth and growled at his lack of self-control.

He padded silently across the dark stone floor to the elegant wardrobes lining the wall of his bedroom, drying his hair at the same time. All eight doors were black wood decorated with a beautiful inlay made of precious stones and shells, depicting dragons and his kind, living in harmony with all the kingdoms. Life had been like that once, thousands of years ago. Now, many of the demon kingdoms wanted him dead, blaming him and his people for his brother’s ruthless attacks on their villages.

Only the first and second demon kingdoms kept the other five from razing his lands and murdering his people. He had signed a peace treaty with them a thousand years ago. The kingdoms didn’t tolerate any individual demon from outside their realm passing through it without permission, let alone an army.

He took a pair of black tight trousers from the stack and slipped them on, fastening them over his hips, and then jammed his bare feet into his black leather riding boots.

His markings flared, a hot shivery feeling that always made him tense. They had done that too often since he had taken blood from the female, unsettling him.

It wasn’t the only anomaly.

He wasn’t healing as quickly as he should have either. It had been two days. His wounds should be gone by now, but they lingered, and he felt weaker than usual. His brother’s attack had been severe, but he had taken blood from the female and had drunk stored blood since returning to his world. He had eaten too, devouring the plates of nourishing vegetables and fruits that Bleu had pressed him to consume even when he hadn’t felt hungry. He should have healed by yesterday.

Perhaps he needed more blood.

Loren raked his fingers through his damp black hair and crossed the expansive bedroom. Daylight flowed in through the tall arched windows lining the wall to his right, where his bed was. Someone had been in while he had been resting and opened the twin arched doors that led onto his balcony. A breeze swept in through them, tousling the sheer blue curtains, carrying the scent of flowers.

He stopped at the long black low cabinet that lined the shorter side of his bedroom and opened one of the doors. Someone had topped up the icebox too. The small triangular metal containers of blood in the dark stone box smelled faintly of Bleu. Loren smiled to himself and took one of the canisters out.

Bleu had been livid with him when he had come to take him from the female doctor’s laboratory. Loren had received more than an earful. Bleu had practically scolded him, sounding much like the mother Loren had lost almost five thousand years ago.

His second in command had never learned how to express his feelings. Whenever he was concerned, it came out as angry. Loren appreciated his friend’s concern though, and that he had managed to track him to the mortal world before the humans had, well, he still wasn’t sure what their intention had been.

Studying him.

The female had said she desired to study him.

She had desired to help him.

Loren groaned at the memory of what he had done after that. He had bitten her. He had felt weak and shaky, on the verge of passing out from the pain of his injuries. It had been instinct. She had smelled divine and had been so close to him, so warm and beautiful. He hadn’t been able to stop himself.

He pulled the cap off the canister and swiftly gulped the contents down. He closed the cabinet door and set the empty canister down on the top, and walked across the room, passing his bed and heading for the double doors beyond them that stretched twenty feet high. The light blue fabric caressed his bare torso as he moved through the curtains. The blood would kick in soon and then he would feel better.

His stomach cramped, pain vibrating through his body. He shot a hand out and grasped the door to his left, clutching it for support. Something was wrong. He should be growing stronger but he felt as though he was getting weaker.

Loren’s eyes shot wide and he held his stomach, fighting a wave of nausea.

Cold fingers danced down his spine, chilling his blood in his veins.

The female was more than a source of sustenance. She was different. Not just a normal human. Did she know it? Did Vail?

Loren had a terrible feeling that his brother knew.

Ki’ara.

His knees weakened. She couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible that the human doctor was his fated female. His ki’ara.

Loren growled, his frustration getting the better of him. He had wanted to find his ki’ara for almost fifty centuries but he didn’t need this now and he certainly didn’t need her to be a member of some sort of demon-hunting organisation.

Icy claws drifted down his back again and curled around his heart.

He feared that it wasn’t fate that had brought him together with his eternal