Page 58 of The King has Fallen (The Kingdom of the Krow #1)

1. Call the Reapers

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

- Psalms 51:5

~ CASIMIR (Pronounced “CAZZ-uh-MEER”) ~

I woke up needing to piss.

One of my toys slept face down with her arm thrown across my chest. The second was curled like a puppy on top of the furs at my feet.

Tossing the fur—and the unwanted arm—back, I turned to sit on the edge of the bed, elbows on my knees, running a hand through my hair while I blinked my way awake.

The toy who’d been embracing me rolled away with a tiny protest. I watched her over my shoulder for a moment, considering punishing her. But she only rolled to her back, her beautiful breasts bouncing slightly as she slumped back against the pillow. The strands of her dark hair that lay over her face fluttered when she began to snore quietly.

I shook my head and pushed to my feet, walking naked towards the bathroom.

Our underground chambers meant there was no morning light. No dawn at the window. No windows at all. Nothing to tell my body it was morning but sheer discipline.

Other wolves might have chosen to give in to the bestial urge to become nocturnal. We were creatures of the dark, after all. But I didn’t will it. And while I didn’t will it, the packs did not do it.

Our wealth was reliant on trade with the humans, who mostly kept what they called office hours. So I had determined that we wolves would, as well.

Of course, almost everyone slept late. Except me. A habit from my youth, at the urging of my father, the previous King.

The wolf of power plans while his enemies sleep.

My rage crackled at thoughts of my father, so I dismissed them.

The only other wolf more disciplined than me was my servant and advisor, Ghere.

Small and slight, Ghere was the runt of his litter. He should have been nose to the dirt—never hold the ear of the King. But in order to make up for his fine frame and delicate constitution, God had given the fucker a mind larger and sharper than any I knew.

And he never failed to step into my room the exact moment that I arose.

I suspected he stood at the door, his ear pressed to the frame, waiting. How he heard me pad across the stone floor every morning, I would never know, but he never failed me.

This morning, though, he scuttled towards me even faster than usual as I crossed the chamber, heading for the bathroom.

“Good morning, Sire.”

“Is it?”

“Perhaps not,” he said quickly, licking his lips in a nervous habit he had that always made my nose wrinkle.

I stepped into the bathroom, leaving the door open for him so he could follow. I was desperate to piss. The man had shadowed me into far darker spaces than this.

“What is making your balls retreat this morning, Ghere?” I asked, sighing with relief as I began to relieve myself into the bowl.

The humans had so many things wrong, but indoor plumbing and electricity were not numbered among them.

“Sire, the Queen is dead.”

I went very still, only for a breath, guarding against the rush of rage and frustration. It wouldn’t do to lash out at Ghere. He was necessary.

I cursed under my breath. “Did she leave a note?”

“Yes.”

Fuck.

When I had finished and turned from the toilet to see him holding a piece of paper, I snatched it out of his outstretched hand. Walking slowly back into the bedchamber, I opened and read it, scanning it quickly. But there was nothing new.

Pitifully weak.

Crying for attention.

Miserable. Depressed. Unable to cope, blah, blah, blah.

Just like the last one.

Fuck.

I crumpled the paper and tossed it at Ghere, who snagged it deftly out of the air, but the tension in his features didn’t ease.

“Sire—”

“She was too weak. Just like the others.”

“Yes, obviously. But—”

“Call the Reapers.”

“Of course, but I just wonder—”

“This time tell them to hunt the poor areas. The trailer parks and slums.”

“Sire?”

I reached the bed and shook the toys awake. Miraculously, the blonde curled at the end of the bed was still wearing the wisp of lace and silk I’d given her yesterday. When she sat up, frowning and blinking, one side of it fell away where I’d bitten through the strap last night.

There were marks on her shoulder, scrapes in the shape of my teeth leading from her collarbone to the top of her full breast.

I smiled and reached for her, taking the weight of that pale globe and teasing her nipple with my thumb until it stood proud.

Flushed and messy from sleep, she still bit her lip, smiling, and leaned back on her hands, pressing her chest up for me.

Good girl.

I put one knee on the bed and her eyes brightened, so I crawled forward to kneel on it, nodding when she reached for me with a question in her eyes, burying a hand in her hair when she leaned down to take me in her mouth.

I let my head drop back and growled my approval of her talented tongue.

“Sire,” Ghere said, averting his eyes from my toy. “I think—”

“Tell them to hunt the poorer areas, Ghere. The women there have suffered already. They’ll be stronger.”

“But... your offspring must be of the noble bloodlines. Taking a human I understand, but—”

I hissed and tightened my grip in the toy’s hair, guiding her as pleasure coursed through me, lighting my veins. My second plaything was waking and crawling over to join us. I cut eyes to her to keep her from interrupting. The blonde was doing her work well. I would meet this dumpster fire of a day with my skin thrumming.

“There will be no noble bloodline if they keep dying before they bear young,” I said through clenched teeth. “Find women who have lived in the darkness before. My blood is noble enough for both of us.”

Ghere hesitated.

He was threatening to stifle my pleasure, so I let the power rise with the blood coursing in my veins and snapped a thread of compulsion at him—just a bare taste. But his breath rushed out of him and he bowed so low his hair brushed the tops of his feet.

“Yes… yes… of course.”

“Do it now.”

He scurried from the room as quickly as he’d arrived and I turned my full attention to the women.

Or tried to.

Something itched at the base of my skull.

Frustration.

Anger.

And something… shakier. But I shook it off. We’d already been through this twice before.

Women killed themselves every day in the modern human world. One more sad story wouldn’t cause so much as a ripple in the thin veil that guarded our world from theirs.

I wouldn’t let myself be disturbed. I’d find her, the woman capable of this. I would force her to submit, bear an heir with her and no longer be tormented by the clock ticking over my head. The clock that counted down to my defeat.

“What’s wrong, Cazz?” the dark-haired toy whispered, coming to kneel next to me and leaning in to kiss my chest while her friend continued sucking me.

I hadn’t compelled either of them this morning. Yet the blonde was remarkably dedicated to her task.

But despite her talent, my thoughts were too disturbed to let me focus. We’d played late into the night, so I was sleep-deprived. And now I was… tense.

And I had things to do.

“Fucking human women,” I muttered. “You’re always more trouble than you’re worth.”

Thrusting into the blonde’s mouth, ordering her not to gag—her body would obey me, even to the point of stopping her heart if I instructed it—I took a handful of the brunette’s hair and tugged her head back to bear her throat.

“Do you know why I bother?” I whispered to her.

She shook her head as best she could with the grip I had on her. She gasped as I leaned over her, pulling her head back until the tendons on her neck stood proud.

Her breath hissed in and out of her teeth and her chest rose and fell quickly. Unable to lift her head from my grip, she followed my progress with her eyes as I opened my mouth over that vein, pulsing thick, hot blood just under the surface of her flawless skin.

I latched on, sucking hard, needing to leave a mark. But I wouldn’t let her relax into the pleasure of my touch thinking there was no danger. I let my teeth graze her skin and she shuddered.

Then I kissed the skin, laving it with my tongue to soothe the pain where the beads of blood rose.

“Every time a human submits to me, my power grows,” I murmured breathlessly, the combination of the blonde’s attentions and this toy’s fear ensuring that my body was prickling with promised pleasure. I was beginning to sweat.

“I s-submit!” the brunette gasped. “I do!”

I tipped my head, staring down at her and her eyes widened further.

“You do,” I murmured, pretending to soothe her.

“I’ll always submit,” she breathed. “Always. I’m here for you, Cazz. You can trust me.”

A jolt of pleasure from the blonde’s ministrations rocked through me and my eyes closed. I tipped my forehead against the brunette’s, my breath rushing between my teeth and over her face.

“And you human bitches also… confuse lust… with love…” I growled. “Every. Fucking. Time.” I dropped her hair, but whipped the hand around to close it on her throat, squeezing hard enough that her eyes bulged. “I don’t need a lover,” I hissed. “I need a fucking bitch in heat.”

She opened her mouth but no sound came out.

“I didn’t compel you, so why did you ask me what was wrong?” I snarled.

She was trying to shake her head, but I had her neck clamped in my hand, just one hair away from cutting off her air.

“Every fucking one of you decides that you have given your heart, and then you break, and then you die. I am sick of your failure.”

I closed my eyes as the blonde redoubled her efforts and my body responded. For a moment I couldn’t speak. But then I opened my eyes and caught the terrified gaze of the brunette.

“Good thing you’re delicious,” I rasped.

The brunette gave a little sob and my orgasm detonated at the base of my spine.