A Kingdom of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales Book 3)(21)

The third strike hit me in my stomach, knocking the breath out of me. I bent with the blow but refused to let my knees buckle. Denski edged back, lowering his stick near his leg.

“Hmm, she’s a strong one,” the male demon beside Dolion said. “Quite pretty for a shifter. The smell, though…”

“Can you do anything about it?” Dolion asked. “She was claimed by the Wyvern alpha. I don’t think severing the bond will be enough with her.”

“We have never successfully severed a dragon’s mating bond,” the other demon said, entwining her fingers in front of her. “Only wolves so far. And the weaker ones at that. But…we can try to at least minimize the smell.”

“Yes, that might be within our power,” the other agreed.

Bear down, my dragon thought in sudden panic, clutching for the bond. Hold on to Nyfain with everything you have. We don’t want them to get lucky and somehow sever our connection. He’s the only thing keeping us sane in here.

“Hold her,” Dolion said as the two demons on the dais drifted down the steps toward me, their expressions equally determined.

Guards gripped my arms and sides, three on each side, and Govam held fast to my elbows, his fingers digging in. The other guards pushed in close too—not grabbing me yet, but prepared to. As the powerful demons neared me, their magic dug in, burrowing into my skin and seemingly digging holes into my bones.

“No,” I forced out through clenched teeth, the sudden pain overwhelming. Unimaginable. Quickly whisking away my logical mind. “No!”

I thrashed within the guards’ hold. The demon magic burrowed deeper, clawing through my chest, hunting for my connection with Nyfain. My spine twisted, or at least it felt that way, bending down over itself. The magic dug deeper yet, shooting bursts of pain through every inch of my body.

I screamed, eyes squeezed shut. I kicked and thrashed at the hands all over my body. My power flailed out and slashed through flesh and bone. Those near me were ripped away, but more took their place as my dragon yanked at Nyfain’s power. The gush came immediately, but it wasn’t enough to lessen my agony.

Blackness encroached on my vision, and still the pain grew as they searched for our bond. Cutting and slicing. Turning me inside out.

A little tickle worried the bond, and terror bled through me anew.

Hold on to him with everything you are, my dragon wailed, coiling around the bond to protect it. Take the pain. That is nothing compared to losing him. Don’t let them break us apart.

The tickle increased, warming. Growing. Glowing.

But it wasn’t the demons. It was Nyfain, reaching out to us through the bond. Trying to help us in our time of need.

No, not trying to help—trying to protect us in the only way he could.

His presence gushed through the bond. He must’ve realized what was happening in some way, because with his presence came one crystal-clear command: Submit to me. He pulled my consciousness toward him. Locked me into his hold, something I hadn’t realized could be done through a bond. And then he wrapped his power, his essence, around us.

I didn’t hesitate or balk. I fell into his dominating magic and let it consume me totally. I closed my eyes and drifted into the safety of his rolling, turbulent power.

The pain from the demons’ magic drove down deep, but then it flowered into breath-stealing pleasure. I gasped—then groaned—as it curled through me and settled in my core.

Lean into it, my dragon said, fortifying her protection of the bond. Give yourself to him, body and soul.

No problem.

Another slash of pain shocked through me, turned quickly into a tidal wave of ecstasy that had my eyelids fluttering. Memories flooded me—hot nights in twisted sheets, slow, sensual mornings when he moved within me. I twisted them into a fantasy, focusing solely on the pleasure he was feeding me. Solely on him.

I imagined lying back, my knees spreading as he dipped between my thighs, his tongue flicking my fevered flesh. I groaned as he continued upward, his palms finding the insides of my knees before pushing them wider. I arched back and gave him more access.

A bite of pain made me wince, almost ripping me out of the moment.

I imagined his teeth tearing into my flesh, marking me brutally. But then his tongue swirled across the spot, pleasure curling into me and making my pussy throb. He worked up my body, biting and sucking, hurting me with his marks and then wrapping them up in delicious pleasure. His body pressed down onto me, trapping me pleasantly to the hard floor.

My bubble wobbled for a moment as the crack of a whip scored my flesh. The demons were trying to loosen me up with a beating.

More, Nyfain, I thought desperately, throwing myself back into his care. I imagined myself writhing under him—and fed those desires into the bond. Yes, Nyfain, take me.

Hard, throbbing pleasure pulsed back, and I imagined his hard cock rubbing between my slippery sex before pushing inside, filling me to the point of bursting. A delicious ache.

Harder, Nyfain, I said as the pain began to intensify, threatening to destroy my fantasy. Quickly, harder.

The pleasure surged, my mind turning it into his thrusting into me. Deeper. Filling my focus. His hips beat against mine, the painful pleasure tightening up my body. I felt down his back, imagining his scars into strips of golden scales. His cock pounded into me, and I hooked my legs around his hips, swinging up to crash into him.

Still the pain filtered through the fantasy, threatening my little oasis, the hold he had on me. It felt like the whips and demon magic were ripping my flesh from my bones piece by agonizing piece.