Possessed by Lust Read online

  Elijah hoped the dream he had with Lev whispering about his freedom was real. He wasn’t sure how much more of this he would be able to take. While Natasha feeding from him hadn’t drained him yet, he knew it was only a matter of time before the succubus in her bled him dry, and he would be damned if she killed him before he could kill her.

  Meadow checked the contents of her clutch, making sure she had everything she needed for tonight. The information she gathered from Lev and Lux made her feel uneasy about walking into this situation alone. She hoped that she had enough potions, Lux’s knowledge of Lust was still accurate, and she’d be able to get her, Desmond, and Lev’s brother out alive.

  She took out a blue vial and emptied the contents into her hand. She prayed she was facing the right direction and Lust was in front of her. The club was concealed by a glamour spell that needed the dust in her hand to be able to see it. This place had been a lot harder to find than she initially thought, though given that she’d been wandering around the realms for a year, she should have figured this journey wouldn’t be easy, even if it was coming to an end.

  Meadow closed her eyes and murmured the words Lux told her to say three times. On the third time, she blew the smoke in what she hoped was the direction of Lust. She peeked one eye open and was startled by the sudden appearance of a large warehouse with a hulking manticore guarding the door.

  She felt herself relax and tense in the same breath. She’s spent a large portion of her time chasing false leads, jumping between realms, and avoiding getting her wings ripped off for sport, all so she could rescue her love and bring him home. It felt surreal and too good to be true that he was just past the manticore. But she couldn’t let herself fall into a false sense of hope. She knew while this was a small victory, her journey was far from over. There was still a high chance she wasn’t walking away with her life or Desmond’s.

  “Here we go,” Meadow whispered to herself before she approached the manticore. As soon as she was close enough, he gave her a once-over, licking his lips like he couldn’t wait to taste her.

  While the manticore skeeved her out, she took it as a good sign that she was dressed for Lust. She wore a black skirt that came up to mid-thigh, with a purple corset that matched her eyes when she was pissed. Her long black hair was in a French braid down her back, and she was rocking her combat boots with knee-high stockings. She wore little makeup because she never bothered with it before and feared if she tried to make herself appear sexier with the makeup, it would look like a hack job.

  Meadow looked down at her wrists, making sure her bracelets were in place, covering the markings on her skin. They were her branding marks that let the world know she was a half-breed. She had no idea why they appeared or whether they came from her pixie side or her shapeshifter side. All she knew was that they were a glaring neon sign that let the world know she was different, and in her experience, different wasn’t always good. She wasn’t sure what this realm’s take was on half-breeds, but she wasn’t going to chance getting exposed. It was bad enough she didn’t get taken seriously in her pixie form. She didn’t want to have to fight unwanted attention tonight when she was here on a rescue mission.

  “Password?” the manticore grumbled.

  “Dyab La.” The manticore laughed at her botched attempt at speaking creole, but he opened the door for her anyway.

  “I won’t be at the door all night yon ti kras.” He stepped into her space, blocking her entrance into Lust. He lifted his paw and ran one of his claws down her chest and settled between her cleavage. “They say you shouldn’t be fooled by the size of a pixie. They’re known to handle a big cock with ease, and I want to see if that’s true.”

  Meadow’s first instinct was to punch him in his face, but she knew if she attacked him, she’d never make it into Lust. Instead, she plastered on a fake smile and batted her eyelashes at him. “Make sure you come and find me, big boy,” she purred and almost gagged on the words. She hoped she would be long gone before he tried to find her.

  The manticore's smile was full of promise, and she was thankful that he let her pass without trying anything further. As soon as she passed the door, she was immediately engulfed in darkness. She cursed under her breath and held her clutch close to her chest with one hand and reached around with the other hand. She heard the bass from the music get louder as she fumbled around in the dark, unable to see two feet in front of her. She prayed she was going in the right direction.

  Meadow tripped over something, and a pair of hands caught her around the waist. The smell of sex and liquor assaulted her nose. “Must be my lucky night,” a male’s voice purred in her ears as his hands grabbed her ass, pulling her closer to him. “I always wanted to fuck a pixie and one falls in my lap.” She heard gruff laughter coming from more than one male.

  “Not likely,” Meadow huffed out, bringing her knee up, hoping to connect with his balls. He let out a pained groan and immediately let go of her. It was a knee-jerk reaction, one she hoped wouldn’t get her kicked out. “Next time ask before you touch.” She hissed in his direction.

  “You’re in Lust, darlin’, we’re all here for the same reason. Asking is never necessary.”

  Duly noted, asshole.

  Meadow scurried away from him and made her way toward the main part of the club. Lux mentioned the darkness in the entryway to the main floor, but she hadn’t been specific that there would be males waiting there to snatch up the first female who walked through the door. If this was just the beginning to Lust, Meadow could only imagine what awaited her on the main floor.

  Meadow saw the first glimpse of light just up ahead of her, and she followed it until she hit what felt like a curtain. The music was louder now, and she gripped the heavy curtain, pulling it toward the right. It opened slowly, like she was peeling back the skin of a piece of fruit to uncover its sweetness beneath. The more the curtain pulled back, the more Lust was revealed to her. It was a large open space with naked bodies everywhere. She felt like she’d just stepped into an orgy with everyone touching and tasting one another. They seemed lost in a rhythm she was having a hard time keeping up with.

  She felt her ears grow hot and her pixie wings involuntarily fluttered open as she drank in the sounds and sights before her. Her breath left her in a whoosh as her lips parted and her mouth suddenly became dry. Her feet were glued to the floor, and she was having a hard time thinking about anything other than the way her body was reacting to the sounds of a harpy reaching her climax at the hands of two vampires. The male vampire had his fangs hooked into the harpy’s neck as he fucked her from behind while a female vampire’s face was buried between the harpy's legs.

  Meadow was hit with envy at the sight of bliss that marked the harpy’s face. She wanted to join in if only she could reach the climax the harpy had.

  “Ah, more of a looker, then?” The male’s voice from earlier was back in her ear, and she could feel his cock at her back. She quickly turned around to tell him to buzz off and came face to chest with a werewolf, going by the yellow glow in his eyes and the wolf tattoo around his left bicep. He leaned down so his voice was level with her ears. “When you’re done looking, I’d love to run my tongue in between your thighs to find out if you're as sweet as they say pixies are.”

  Meadow rolled her eyes, wondering what other tales there were for her kind. She’d been so busy fending off bullies that she never heard anything remotely sexual about pixies. They were always the butt of every joke and never taken seriously because they held no real power. Yet, five minutes in Lust and she’d been eyed and propositioned like she was a rare delicacy one heard about but never actually saw until now.

  She went to speak but he cut her off. “I asked this time before touching. That’s got to count for something.” Meadow shook her head. She wasn’t here to jump into bed with total strangers.

  Or just strangers you aren’t attracted to. Did you not just want to jump in with the harpy to feel what she was feeling?

  Meadow q
uickly silenced the pesky voice inside of her head. She wasn’t here to entertain herself and as drawn as she was to the harpy and her threesome, she needed to focus and lose the wolf.

  She patted him on his chest and looked up at him from underneath her lashes. “Maybe next time.” The wolf smirked and finally walked away. Meadow scanned the crowd, and her eyes landed on the stage of Lust where she saw a man being strapped down to a cross.

  “Elijah,” she whispered his name like she’d known him all her life, and it felt like she had. All at once her body and heart beat with recognition for a man who was a stranger to her. She’d never seen him before today and hadn’t known of his existence until she ran into his brother, Lev, but that didn’t stop Meadow from yearning to hold him in her arms—to reunite with a part of herself she didn’t even know she was missing.

  Her feet carried her closer toward the stage—she was moving on autopilot, not too sure what she was going to do when she got close enough. But she felt an urgency vibrate through her body like the answers she didn’t know she was seeking were staring right in front of her in the form of Elijah, and if she blinked, he’d disappear.

  Meadow abruptly stopped when she saw a nymph walk on stage and run her hands down Elijah’s body to cup his balls. She gripped her clutch as her tempered flared. Meadow tried to convince herself that her anger was on his behalf because she knew he was here against his will. But the more she stood there and watched as another nymph got on his knees to put Elijah in his mouth, the angrier she became. It was borderline possessive watching another touch what felt like belonged to her.

  Calm down.

  Calm down.

  Calm down.

  Meadow repeated the words to herself, hoping it would keep her feet on the ground. She tried to shake the reaction she was having to Elijah when a naked woman walked on stage. She had an air of power to her and with one snap of her fingers the nymphs released their hold on him.

  Natasha.

  The description Lux gave Meadow about the owner of Lust was spot-on. Meadow tried to commit her features to memory, but she was having a hard time seeing past the red haze that was clouding her vision.

  Meadow watched as Natasha gripped Elijah’s cock in her hand and Meadow’s blood boiled. The second Natasha mounted the cross and slowly slid herself onto Elijah’s waiting dick, a growl tore through her throat.

  Mine.

  The word slammed the front of Meadow’s skull like a baseball bat, and she took a step forward before she could stop herself. Meadow made a beeline for the stage with murder being her intent for Natasha taking what wasn’t hers.

  As soon as Meadow reached the stage, she saw two berserkers start toward her. She reached into her clutch, knowing she had potions in there strong enough to knock them out. She was ready for the fight that was coming her way, even if she knew on some level this wasn’t right. This wasn’t her game plan, but she was having a hard time pulling herself out of the rage coursing through her body. The need to protect Elijah overwhelmed her to an all-consuming point. She never had this reaction toward anyone.

  “Oh shit, she’s got purple eyes,” a voice murmured somewhere beside Meadow. The surprised comment quickly cleared the murderous haze she was in, and she snapped her eyes shut, turning away from the stage.

  “Shit,” she cursed. She rubbed at her eyes, trying to get her temper under control. She’d never been that angry before and couldn’t understand how she had that reaction to Elijah.

  Mine.

  The word was there again, making her believe she had somehow lost her mind in between portal jumping. Elijah wasn’t hers. She wasn’t here for him. She was here for her boyfriend Desmond, who she loved and wanted to be with.

  So why are you fighting the pull to run on stage and fight your way to rescue Elijah? The voice in her head taunted her, but she knew that pull was there because she hated seeing other people hurt. She knew what his predicament was and wanted to free him from his captors.

  Yeah, right.

  She didn’t have time to stand there and silently argue with herself. She felt two hulking presences behind her, and she spun around to see the two berserkers who had been making their way toward her crowding her space. “Is there a problem?” one of them snarled at her while the other one sized her up like he wanted to take her for a ride on his dick.

  Meadow shook her head. “I haven’t been here in a while. Just scoping out the selection tonight, boys.” She peeked toward the stage, grateful Natasha was no longer fucking Elijah. “What’s the story with him?” She nodded at Elijah as a nightwalker came on stage to undo his binds.

  Meadow noticed the cuffs around his wrists and the collar adorning his neck. She squinted her eyes, knowing damn well her eyesight was shit, but it looked like the collar was magically spelled going by the tiny gold markings across it. Lev and Lux left out the part that Elijah might have been magically bound to this place, and Meadow wasn’t sure if she had a potion in her clutch strong enough to remove the binds.

  “You’re out of luck, sweetheart,” the one who had been eyeing her like he wanted her spoke up. “He’s generally only for Natasha. She has a few that she lets play with him, but nothing past a little petting.” He stepped closer to her. “If you’re looking for a place to park that pretty ass of yours, my shift is over in an hour, and I’d love to find myself buried in you instead of a bottle.”

  Meadow bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing in the berserker’s face. What was with the lines tonight? “I’ll see where the night takes me.” The berserker nodded, and they both left her alone. Meadow gazed back at the stage seeing Elijah being dragged off by two nightwalkers. If Lux was right, they were leading him back down to the dungeons where they kept him and hopefully Desmond.

  She scanned the club looking for a place she could hide in plain sight and still be able to watch who came and went. She needed to figure out who worked for Natasha and who was here just looking to scratch an itch. She had to make sure everything was in place as she needed it to be, and hopefully by the end of the night she’d have her love back in her arms where he belonged.

  Elijah’s body ached as he paced the short length of his cage. He pulled at his chains, even though he knew they wouldn’t give it didn’t stop him from hoping one day they would. He was exhausted, yet his body hummed with unreleased energy, making it impossible for him to sit still long enough to close his eyes and sleep.

  He needed to sleep if only so he could communicate with Lev again. Elijah wanted to know who it was that was coming to free him from his chains and when. He wasn’t sure how much longer he had inside this cage before his mind snapped.

  “You’re restless tonight.” The soft murmurs of Elijah’s companion barely reached his ears. “Did they dress you tonight or leave you naked?” Elijah scoffed and Desmond chuckled. “Of course they left you naked.”

  Elijah stopped his pacing and looked over at the cage next to him. Desmond moved slowly and tossed a pair of linen pants in Elijah’s direction. He was so weak the pants barely made it through the bars. Elijah had to stretch to reach for them. Once Elijah had the pants on, a small smile cracked his lips. He and Desmond had been through similar shit being here. They also witnessed some nasty shit, but when they could, they had been there for each other.

  Elijah looked back at Desmond who was laid out on the floor on his back, and he looked and sounded better than when Elijah was dragged up to Lust. “You’re still alive? And here I thought I was going to come back and find your cage empty.”

  “I know you’d miss me if I was gone, but I’m still here.”

  For now.

  The word hadn’t been spoken out loud, but Elijah could hear it in his voice, and he inched his way closer to the cage. He listened for Desmond’s heartbeat, and he relaxed a little when he found it to be steadier, but it was still faint for a berserker his size.

  Elijah gave Desmond a once-over wondering if he had venenum. It was an old tale that he heard in passing once upon a t
ime but never actually saw it up close to believe that it ever existed.

  Succubi caused two types of death. One where they feed from their victims to sustain themselves. That one was the most common and, from what Elijah had heard, the less painful.

  The other one, venenum, was caused from the venom or poison that seeped out of a succubus and into its victims. It didn’t happen often but when it did, the death came slow and painful. The victim’s body went through cycles of near death, body convulsions, labored breathing, and sometimes hallucinations. The heart rate slows down until it almost stops, and just when they’re at death’s door, the body heals itself and repeats the cycle until death finally decides to take them.

  Elijah didn’t know how long those cycles went on for before the body eventually gave out or if there was a cure for it. Elijah had a feeling Desmond’s symptoms were that of venenum. All he was missing were the hallucinations, and Elijah didn’t think Desmond would last much longer in his cell once they started.

  Desmond’s breathing evened out, letting Elijah know he had fallen asleep. Elijah continued his pacing of the short length in his cell. He still had an excess amount of energy coursing through his body, and his cock still hung heavy and hard between his legs because Natasha the cunt didn’t have the decency to let him cum while she fucked him like she owned him on the stage of Lust.

  He growled low when he tasted the truth of that statement. Natasha did own him, at least for now. He used to be rebellious in the beginning, fighting and purposely pissing her off every chance he got, consequences be damned, but that seemed to have lessened over time.

  Elijah stopped pacing and looked down at the bulge in his pants. The desire to bring himself pleasure felt wrong. He wouldn’t admit it aloud, but he wanted to fuck Natasha.

  He balled his hands into fists, opting to swing at the empty space in front of him, then bashing his fist through the concrete wall. He didn’t want to wake Desmond, knowing he probably needed the rest to heal, and he swallowed his scream of frustration.