Page 31

CHAPTER 30

I need a moment of silence to think and plan.

I’m used to working on a team, but my old one . . . Well, we all had our strengths and could plan together, while my new team looks to me for guidance, like I’m their leader. It’s something I’m not used to and quite overwhelming. If I am going to hunt Black and the others, then I will need my wits about me, which means I need to focus.

I leave them bickering and strip off, climbing into the shower. I press my hands to the wall as the scalding hot water sluices down my body, unlocking my tired, aching muscles.

The creak of the door has me spinning and reaching for my blades on the toilet, but I relax when I see Tem. “What’s wrong?” I ask tiredly, probably more waspish than I mean to. He considers me for a moment but doesn’t speak, but I’m too tired for that so I turn and ignore him. He’ll talk when he’s ready.

Out of all the monsters surrounding me, he is the oddest. It’s like he cannot exist without me. He looks to me for constant approval and happiness, as if his every emotion depends on me. That kind of devotion is terrifying. What if I mess up?

What if he gets hurt or killed?

Nobody looks at anyone else the way Tem looks at me. He would slaughter millions for me, his power for me to control.

One could go crazy with that kind of dominion over another being, and I think that’s what truly terrifies me. No doubt his old master did, considering he said they weren’t good.

I refuse to be like them.

Tem is his own person, even if he doesn’t realise it.

I don’t want a slave. I want something . . . more.

TEM

She dismisses me, and something inside me cracks. Fear courses through me—fear she will toss me aside like all the others.

I am not good enough. It’s why all my masters abandoned me.

I am not disciplined enough, powerful enough, or tame enough.

I do not want my mistress to leave me too. I never wanted to please my master so badly. I hated their orders, but not hers. I want her small smile when she looks at me when I’ve done well. I want her approval and attention.

I crave her need of me, need others demanded while she simply allowed me to choose.

I have chosen her, but she doesn’t seem to understand that.

She was strong enough to free me, yet she has not claimed me.

It’s what spins around and around in my head.

I shed the clothes she gave me with a simple spark of magic and step inside the cubicle she bathes in. I do not stop until I am pressed against her warm back, and I sigh happily. She stiffens, however, and whirls, pushing me back.

“Tem,” she snaps. “What are you doing?”

Searching her gaze, I see her displeasure, and it cuts through me like a knife. Does my touch repulse her that much?

I fall to my knees before her. I do not have the strength to stand anymore, not when I am once again not good enough.

“Tem,” she barks when I do not speak. “Words. Explain.”

“Have I displeased you, mistress? Am I not good enough?” I peer up at her, panic building in my chest. Sliding my hands around her legs, I press my face against her thighs as she grunts. I shuffle closer, trying to bind myself to her so she cannot let me go. My other masters chose me, but I am choosing her. “I can be better. I can be whatever you want, mistress.”

I press my face to her pussy. “I can serve you however you wish. Please command me, just do not release me. I choose you, mistress. I choose you. I want you. I can be whatever will pleasure you.” I let my magic flow over me, shifting to look like a blonde-haired female. Maybe she will enjoy that, since some of my old masters did. Her eyes widen, and not in pleasure, so I quickly change to a big, muscular male, and when I speak, my voice is deeper. “I can be whoever you wish me to be. Simply tell me.” I change again, my body adapting with my different faces. I hope to see a spark of desire for one of them.

She reaches down and cups my face, stopping the transformation. Her expression almost looks sad as she watches me. “I do not want any of that.”

“Then what do you want?” I ask in confusion. For all my age and power, this mistress of mine is a total conundrum. I can’t figure her out.

She lowers to her knees before me. I try to flatten myself further because we are not equal, but she simply holds me in place until I am level with her, as if I have the right to be.

“I want . . . I want something real,” she murmurs. “No magic. I want you how you are. No master or chains. I want a being, not a slave. You are a being, Tem, an incredibly powerful and ancient being. Surely you want more than to just be mine?”

“I want nothing more than to be yours,” I admit. She frowns, clearly struggling with my confession. “I want to make you happy. I want to be at your side every day. I want to wake with you needing me and sleep in your arms. Is that not okay?”

She blinks but slowly nods. “I suppose, though I have never had that before. To be happy, you simply wish to . . . be with me?”

“Yes, mistress,” I reply. “It is not a compulsion or an effect of the bond like you believe it is, though it is what drew me to you. I never felt this way with my other masters. I am my own being, but I wish to be a part of your life. I don’t need your entire focus, mistress, because I know you have great things to do, but I simply wish for a small speck of your attention. I just wish to be involved and important to you.”

“You do not want freedom to follow your dreams, see the world, or have a family?” It is clear she is trying to understand me.

“I know my mistress is a determined, strong hunter. You have big dreams for this world, but all I have is you. It’s all I want. I have seen this world a thousand times, mistress, and it is not what kept me going. It was the hope that someday, someone would come along worth serving, someone who would keep me safe. I do not want anything else, mistress. I just want a home with you.”

She runs her eyes across me as if she is truly seeing me for the first time. “I suppose I am no better than your previous masters, only seeing your worth and what you are capable of, not the real you. Those chains bind us, but you chose me, didn’t you? If you wanted, you could break this.”

“Yes,” I admit truthfully, voicing something I have never admitted to another before for fear of what would happen. “Yes, I could break this, but I do not want to. I am right where I want to be.”

“Then what do you want right now, Tem?” she asks.

“I want you,” I answer without hesitation. “I want you to look at me the way you look at the others. I want you to reach for me. I want you to touch me. I want you to taste me. I want you to make me scream the way you made the succubus shout. I want to be yours in every way. It is all I think about, wishing you would look at me the way you look at them with desire and need. I want to be needed by you, mistress. I want to be yours.”

It is then I see the desire in her eyes. It’s for me in this body, not the others.

None of my old masters ever wished to take me in this form.

They wanted perfection, their ideal mate.

She slowly reaches out and slides her fingers down my cheek and chest. I sigh, leaning into her touch, my skin coming alive everywhere she caresses. “You’re beautiful, Tem, do you know that? In this form, your true form, you are stunning. Every inch of you is perfect.”

“I am glad it pleases you, mistress.” I gasp as her hand circles my cock and squeezes. My hips jerk forward as a whine leaves my throat, and the small smirk she aims my way makes me growl.

“It pleases me, though you don’t have to call me mistress,” she says as she pulls me closer. “Take what you want, Tem.”

She gave me permission, and I can’t resist. I tackle her to the cold cubicle floor. She laughs, but it changes to a sigh as I lick her throat and bare chest. I have wanted to taste her since the moment I saw her.

“Can I still call you mistress? I like the way it rolls off my tongue,” I murmur as I taste her skin again.

She shivers, which lets me know she likes it. “Only if you want to.”

“I want to,” I respond instantly. “I want to scream it while you claim me. I want everyone to know I belong to you.”

“Possessive little thing, aren’t you?” She grins, stroking my back, and I gasp when her nails dig into my ass and yank me closer so I fall between her splayed thighs. “Then show me how much you want your mistress.”

I couldn’t hold back even if she demanded it of me now. If she wants to know what I want, then I will show her until she never doubts it again.

Running my tongue down her chest, I drink in her reactions. I want her to scream in pleasure like she did with the succubus. I want to be everything she craves.

“Teach me how to please you, mistress,” I murmur as I slide my tongue down and lap at her cunt. “Teach me what you like. I want to be the best I can be for you.”

The water sprays over my back, but my skin is already hot, and as I roll my eyes up to her, I see flames reflected in hers. “Take me as you want. I promise you I’ll enjoy it.”

I search her face for the truth, but she simply waits, and my chains slip away, all bar the collar that belongs to her as I unleash my desire for my mistress on her body.

My hands grip her thighs, tossing them over my shoulders as I bury my face in her pussy. She smells delicious, but as I dart my tongue out and lick her cunt, I realise she tastes even better, so I thrust it inside her. Her essence coats my tongue as her hips rock. She tangles her fingers in my long, wet hair and drags me closer. I go willingly, lapping at her deeply.

Her thigh twitches when I twist my tongue around her clit, so I repeat it until she cries out, lifting her hips so she’s fucking my face. I drag her closer, burying my mouth in her cunt as her pleasure detonates. More of that delicious cream drips from her hole, so I lap it up as she pants and slumps in my hands.

She tugs at my hair. “Tem.”

I resist until I drink my fill, and then I slide up her body and stick my tongue out as her heavy-lidded eyes watch me. “Taste yourself. You’re delicious. I want more, mistress, please.”

Leaning up, she sucks my tongue into her mouth, and I groan. When she releases me, she slides her hands down my head until she can fist my hair, and then she tugs until it hurts. Leaning forward, she kisses my collar, sending a shiver through me. “Then fuck me,” she orders. “Come on, tempest. Show me what you can do. I want all of it.” Her mouth slides up my throat to my ear. “Show your mistress how badly you want her. That’s an order.”