In the Service of the King by Laura Kaye Page B

yanked the tie to his own robe free and the fabric fell open, revealing a swath of muscular and marked male flesh from throat to groin. An intricate black design pulled her attention from his face to the light golden skin of his chest. Mostly visible between the hanging green silk was a large round tattoo of a series of interlocking Celtic knots surrounding a regal Pict horse. The Celts’ knot work represented the complexity of life, and the more overlapping the lines, the greater the protection against evil was supposed to be. If the symbolism was true, Kael should’ve been well served by this beautiful mark.
    Every inch of his body was lean golden muscle, much of it decorated by beautiful Celtic artwork. Every rippling of his shoulders and clenching of his defined abdomen radiated leashed power. Her eyes bulged and she whimpered when she took in the thick, long shaft protruding from the bronze curls covering his groin. She might have been a little scared if her pussy hadn’t tingled in need and anticipation.
    For long moments, she drank him in. When she noticed the faster rise and fall of his chest, she finally looked back to his face.
    He was watching her observe him—his mouth hung open and his Adam’s apple bobbed in a rough swallow. The lengths of his fangs were completely visible to her for the first time.
    Her eyes widened and dilated. She shifted her stance, adjusting to the moisture between her legs. She couldn’t stand the distance between them and closed it with a sure step. With one hand against the horse on his bare chest, she reached up with the other and cupped the back of his head and pulled him down to her. She was stunned to feel a rhythmic beat under her hand and realized how much about him she wanted, needed, to know. Later…
    This time it was her mouth that claimed his. His fang pinched her lip and she moaned. Then she wrapped her tongue around the other fang and flicked it repeatedly. His mouth tasted like danger and ecstasy. Embracing his nonhuman side so wantonly felt decadent, but also like the most natural thing she’d ever done.
     
     
    Kael fisted his hands in her hair but couldn’t decide whether to pull her away or hold her there forever. Definitely forever. Now that he’d accepted the magic weaving around them, he felt it down deep. Being with Shayla this way was as right as breathing, as drinking blood. Her tongue curled around his right canine and he sucked in a breath and growled. His fangs were so fucking sensitive and her tongue was relentless. Pre-cum slicked the skin of her stomach where he thrust against her. She lifted a leg and wrapped it around his thigh. The spicy-sweet scent of her arousal exploded into his senses, called him home.
    He groaned, then grabbed her shoulders and forced her backward until her body met the tall column of the iron poster on the bed. It took a little effort and even more resolve to release her from the kiss, to give up her stroking of his fangs. But his patience had just run into the negative.
    Shayla gasped as her back bumped into the cold metal, which he imagined got colder as he pushed the robe the rest of the way off her arms.
    “Arms up and grasp onto the post.”
    Breathing harder, she responded immediately and the pose perfected her posture and lifted her breasts.
    “Yes. Yes, Shayla. Beautiful.” He hummed in appreciation and pulled the belt off his robe, then shrugged out of it altogether.
    Desire and need drew a low growl from his chest as he reached up with the silk tie. Seconds later her hands were secured to the bedpost above her head. Kael ran his nose up her cheek to her ear and inhaled deeply. “I don’t want to drink from you just yet—” he licked the shell of her ear “—so we’re going to keep your hands up there where they won’t be able to urge me to do something I’m not ready to do.” He nipped her earlobe and she rubbed her cheek against his smooth jaw. He leaned back to find her gaze intense and aroused. Her