CHAPTER 40

Faye hid her shock as Rune explained this like it was commonplace. Dark courts and their sex games. Her eyes widened as Kayla called in a black leather riding crop. "What's that for?" Faye shifted in Rune's lap, resting her hand on his muscular thigh.

A man entered the room wearing a tailored suit much like Rune's.

"Motivation should he not listen. This is the novice beginning his training." Rune's hand left her back as his other hand rested on her knee. His thumb was tracing small circles.

The man's dark shard glowed as he ran his hand through his copper-colored short hair. His pallor complexion wasn't unattractive. Faye watched as he stripped off his jacket and shirt revealing lean, hard muscle. Not as chiseled as Rune, but still appealing.

The male knelt before the woman, taking her hand to press a kiss to the back of it. She brushed her hands over his face, her thumb sliding over his bottom lip. "My name is Erin. What are you?"

"Vampire," the male said and grinned at her answering smile.

Faye glanced at Rune's hand on her knee. The slow lazy circles he traced. She wondered if the vampire was a coincidence or if Rune requested one of his kind.

Erin bent forward, giving him a soft kiss before saying, "No fangs."

"As you command," he answered, purring as he nuzzled her palm.

Rune purred for her during their last dream. Catching her finger between his teeth. Faye pushed the memory away, but it remained, teasing at the edge of her mind.

"More and rougher," Erin said. Faye's breath caught as the vampire's purr deepened, the sound humming through the room. She stroked the side of his face. "Good."

Faye wet her lips watching them. Her nipples hardened as the man slowly pulled the sash of the woman's robe. Kayla stood close observing while not obstructing their view of the couple.

She'd seen live sex shows with Sparrow but being here with Rune was different. The way he stroked her hair and the damned circles he traced just above her knee made her too aware of his closeness. Faye shifted her hips. Her breath stilled as she caught friction on Rune's hard thigh beneath her.

"You like to watch." Rune wasn't asking. It was a statement.

One Faye wouldn't dignify with a response. The vampire spread Erin's legs, lowering his head between them and Faye unwittingly tightened her grip on Rune's thigh. He was going to lick her there while he purred. She bit the inside of her lip wondering if Rune would have done the same if she didn't stop him. Their dream would have played out differently if he didn't ask what court she belonged to. If she didn't dig her claws into his throat.

A sharp crack startled Faye out of her thoughts. She jerked at the second, gasping at the touch of friction against her own vampire.

"Do as she commanded and hold your purr," Kayla ordered.

Faye's breaths drew short as she gazed at the red mark left on the man's shoulder. Faye could hear the difference in the male's purr once he corrected it, but she didn't notice it before. How many times had Rune felt that sting while he was a novice?

Faye dragged her bottom lip through her teeth. "Is being commanded part of the training?" She could hear his deep purring voice from their dreams. It felt like a lifetime ago. She'd held his throat not knowing what to do and he'd crooned,Command me.

"It is a sentiment of devotion." Rune kept his hand on her knee and swept her hair behind her shoulder.

Eyeing my throat, vampire?Faye dropped her shoulder and turned in his direction but not enough to look at him. "Like love?"

Rune laughed softly behind her, and Faye bristled. "Love is a mortal word. They fall into love and fall out of love a few decades later. Grow apart. Immortals feel deeper. Our devotion is eternal. The sentiment, I am yours to command, means to be an extension of the other's will."

Faye knew those words. He'd spoken to her during their dreams. He loved her? Her chest tightened with hope before the reality of their situation tore it from her. She was mortal and he'd dismissed their fated tie, claiming it to be a spell. Faye buried her hurt, focusing on the couple before her.

Kayla traced the riding crop down the male's spine. "Is she wet, vampire?"

Faye shifted her hips, leaning forward. Rune's thigh was taut beneath her. She moaned quietly, watching the couple before them with hooded eyes. The muscles in the vampire's back rippled as he touched her, pressing a finger in. Erin's breaths grew ragged as she tangled her hands through his copper hair. She pulled him closer, grinding against his mouth.

"You are permitted to get closer if you wish." Rune's voice held a roughened edge, his accent thicker.

Did he like to watch too? Moving closer would mean leaving this perfect friction of his thigh. She was slick, aching for him.

Erin came with a cry, panting for breath.

Faye leaned forward, pressing harder against Rune. "I thought he was a novice."

"The caliber of men you associate with is appalling. Bringing a woman to orgasm is the beginning." Rune ran the back of his fingers up her spine.

Ask to tend to her.

The Ra'Voshnik prowled his mind, urging him to lay her naked on his bed. Where he would alternate between worshiping at her altar and stroking her with his hands while he drank from her inner thigh.

Rune breathed in her scent, laced with her arousal. Darkness, his fangs throbbed. Aching to sink into the slender column of her throat. He leaned closer to say in her ear, "The training dark-blooded males receive is holding a woman's release." He flexed his leg each time she shifted on him. "Stretching it." Rune stroked Faye's flowing black hair. The silky texture ran through his fingers. "Overlapping them."

Faye watched the couple, and Rune couldn't help but watch her. Her subtle movements, the catches of breath. The feel of her rocking against him. The way the beat of her heart picked up when he spoke, all of it enticed him. His gaze fell to the flutter of her pulse.

It was too easy to get lost in her. Rune inwardly shook himself. He should be searching her mind, looking for the spell tying her mortality to him. But he couldn't break free of her pull. Fantasizing even now about holding her close while he thrust into her. The way she would turn up her chin and offer him her throat.

Faye jerked in his lap the same moment Kayla brought the riding crop down on the male's back. He listened to the beat of her heart racing. She liked this. The corner of his mouth lifted. The minx had to control every aspect of her life; it was fitting she would prefer to be in control in the bedroom. She'd taken him by the throat. He grinned at the memory and found himself curious to what other predilections she possessed.

Tend to our queen. Pin her and make her writhe beneath our mouth.

He ignored the Ra'Voshnik's frantic demands, too focused on her. Taking in every reaction. Rune watched as Faye grew still, the tension in her muscles building. Darkness, she was close. He shifted his leg beneath her, needing to ease her ache. "Is my thigh to your liking?"

"Why did she hit him after he made her come?"

Ignoring my question?Rune leaned closer to her, his chest brushing her arm. "Because he failed to hold her release. A less experienced male would press on, pushing harder, attempting to make her come again. We are taught to read her body. Keep the rhythm she sets and know when to push her."

She glanced back at him, her gaze lowering to note the shadows he knew swayed beneath his eyes. "You've done this training," she asked.

"I have."

She leaned forward pressing into his thigh. "How many times did a riding crop meet your back?" Interesting. The minx wanted him under the crop. When it became evident he was not going to answer, she turned back to the couple. "How do they graduate from being a novice?"

"Make her come for ten minutes."

She stiffened for the briefest moment. Then turned so he viewed a teasing profile of her nose and lips. "Ten minutes? That's a novice."

Rune fanned his breath over the shell of her ear and rasped, "A male is fully trained when he can hold her for thirty." He stifled a groan eager to hear the sounds he could elicit from her lips while he worked her body to his satisfaction. The Ra'Voshnik circled just beneath the surface, agreeing with his notion.

She looked back at him fully and rolled her hips. Darkness, he wanted to pin her to him and make her come while he rocked against her.