Taken by the Dark Elf King : Monstrous Mates Book One (Monstrous Mates Series 1)

EAVESDROPPING IS NOT THE MOST princess-like behavior, but as I round the corner past the throne room I can’t help but stop and listen.

I’d recognize Arkain’s deep timbre anywhere. I’ve become addicted to its sound these past few weeks. Whether it’s when he’s reading or telling me a story from his past, I love it. Now that voice sounds mad.

“If you are waiting for me to apologize, then you are wasting both our times,” I hear Arkain say. I press myself against an alcove so that I am hidden if anyone walks passed, making sure to tuck as much of my purple gown behind the wall as I can.

“It is not what you said to me that I care about. I can handle your beast and his behavior.” The second voice is Wylan. Shivers travel down my spine. “What I cannot handle is it not being controlled. I heard what you did to those guards.”

Guards? What guards?

“They had it coming. You should’ve heard what they were saying…” The last word dissolves into a snarl.

“And you should’ve controlled yourself. You knew the risks of bringing her here. The dark elves would be resistant to accepting her.” It’s me they’re talking about. Perhaps I shouldn’t be listening to this after all. There is a brief pause before Wylan speaks again. “She should not even be here.”

“You think that I don’t know that?” Arkain snarls. “You think I don’t know she doesn’t belong here? That Myrkorvin will never accept her as one of our own.”

The breath is knocked from my lungs. I should not be listening to this. I turn from the wall and hurry back down the corridor. My eyes are stinging. Stupid tears. Why am I getting upset?

He’s not wrong. I don’t belong here. Does he think I don’t notice how pale I’ve gotten? Even though I’m spending more time outside I am still getting paler by the day. Maybe I was wrong to think I could shape my own destiny here. Perhaps I should’ve fought harder to stay in Lysan. At least I would’ve had my family. The sun.

Have I just traded one gilded cage for another?

I contemplate not joining Arkain for dinner. That will arouse too much suspicion though, and the last thing I need is the castle getting a whiff of this. If they learn that the king does not want me here that will make me even more of an oddity in their eyes.

Making my way to the private dining quarters, I find myself alone in the room. Helping myself to a glass of wine, time stretches on as I wait for Arkain to appear. Enough time for me to have drunk a second glass.

Finally, he arrives. His red eyes are wild and he looks angry. What right does he have to be angry? All I’ve done is try and make a life here. With him. And yet it seems as though even he doesn’t believe I will ever truly belong here.

Well fuck that and fuck him.

“Apologies for my lateness.” I roll my eyes and that stops him as he drops into his chair. “What’s wrong?”

“Why do you think something is wrong?”

“Your voice, your tone, that sour look on your face.” His eyes widen. “Something’s happened. Tell me what it is.”

“Who are you to make demands of me?”

“I am your king for one,” he says. “I am your friend for another.”

I scoff at that. “You are not my friend.”

Hurt shutters his red eyes and I almost feel bad for saying that. Almost.

Our first course is served, a steaming pile of roasted tomatoes in a wine sauce. I was starving earlier but now I can’t even manage to pick up my fork. Arkain must feel the same because even he ignores his plate.

“Elvie, you don’t mean that.”

“Yes, I do,” I bite out.

“Have I done something…” He trails off. “Is this about what happened in the garden?”

The garden. How could an evening have started off so perfectly now devolve into this? My body was screaming for him to finally kiss me. After weeks of us dancing around each other, he finally stopped handling me with gentle hands. Gods know I would’ve let him fuck me out there if we hadn’t been interrupted, I was so wound up.

Now all I feel is hurt when I look at him.

“This is about you saying I don’t belong here!” I shout. He looks confused before realization dawns on him.

“You were listening to my conversation with Wylan?” He asks in disbelief.

“Oh, don’t spin this on me. I have done nothing but try and get to know you. Nothing but try and make this work. To try and make this my home only to find out that you don’t even want me here.” I stand up, my chair clattering to the floor behind me, rounding the table until I am standing next to him. “Why take me then, Arkain? Why pick me if only to wish I wasn’t here? I thought we were building something between us over these past few weeks.”

I cannot hide the hurt in my voice. How deeply his dismissal of me has wounded me. Arkain rises to his feet and shakes his head at me.

“You don’t understand anything,” he mutters.

“Then explain it to me, Arkain! Or I swear to the gods, we will spend the rest of our lives as strangers. I cannot keep doing this with you.” Something in him snaps. Those ruby eyes glow even brighter. Moving so quickly I don’t even register it until he has me pinned to the oak table. His body trapping me to it as the wooden ledge digs into my ass.

“Of course you shouldn’t be here,” he snarls. The tears I have been trying to hold back bubble over and course down my cheeks. Raising a single, clawed finger he wipes it away.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he says softly. “You are meant for the sun. Somewhere it is warm and you can run and be free. Somewhere you can be whoever you want, do whatever you want, without someone watching you.”

“But I am the bastard keeping you here. The monster who is too selfish to let you go. The one who took you by trick and keeps you here with a lie. I don’t deserve your kindness. Your attempts to build a life here. I deserve you to treat me like a beast. To recoil from me, not welcome me in with smiles and kind words.” He leans in closer to my face. I can smell his masculine scent. Leather and earth and something spicy. Head tipping back to look into those wild eyes, something dangerous unfurling in my belly. My nipples harden in response to his words.

“But I am a monster, Elvie. You don’t belong here, but I am too selfish to let you go. I’ll kill anyone who tries to take you from me.” His body presses into mine and that’s all it takes. I lean back on the table and part my legs. The moment he realizes what’s happening is the moment my scent hits him.

His nostrils flare as he realizes just how wet I am.

“I don’t want to leave.” The truth of those words settles into my bones.

With a broken groan, Arkain is unleashed. Slipping between my open thighs he is everywhere all at once. His hands tangle in my hair pulling my head back and presenting my mouth to him. His gray lips slam onto mine in a bruising kiss.

I’ve never been kissed like this in my life.

Arkain does not kiss gently. He kisses like the warrior he is. Conquering my mouth over and over again. I moan and he takes the opportunity to plunge his tongue inside. Our tongues tangle and it’s a fight I’m all too happy to lose.

His groan in response makes my thighs grow even damper.

“I knew you’d taste sweet,” he growls against my mouth.

“Was there ever any doubt?” I choke out as he moves his mouth to my neck. Biting and sucking his way down to my chest, those sharp fangs dragging along my sensitive skin. When he gets to the front of my gown, I gasp as his mouth leaves me. His claws snag in the delicate fabric of my dress before pulling it down until my breasts pop free.

“Perfect,” he growls, his claw lightly circling one nipple, while his mouth sucks and bites on my other. It feels amazing, I can’t get enough. I want him closer to me. Using my legs to wrap around his waist, I yank him flush to my body. Leaning forward to run my tongue along his pointed ears. He growls against my breast, switching to the other one to give it the same attention.

“Arkain,” I moan and he doubles his efforts. Before I can even realize his hand has left my breast, it begins traveling up the outside of my thigh. Dragging the long skirt of my gown up with it. Oh gods, I need him to touch me there. My pussy is begging for his attention. I can feel my moisture leaking out of me and dripping onto the table below.

“Yes,” I pant. “Touch me.”

“You beg so prettily, my Elvie, how could any male deny when you look at them like that?” Arkain releases my nipple with a pop before returning to my mouth. With both hands free, he drags my gown the rest of the way up to my waist before cupping my swollen flesh. “So wet for me, Elvie. How did a beast like me get such a beautiful elf like you to soak through her gown?”

“It’s the claws,” I gasp as he runs one of his fingers through my wetness. He chuckles darkly and gently scrapes his claw along my clit. Oh gods. Pleasure explodes inside me. My moan is loud enough that the servants outside have to know what’s going on.

Might as well give them a good show.

The sight of Arkain between my thighs nearly tips me over the edge. The muscles straining in his neck are in contrast with his cool demeanor. When he leans down to press a light kiss to my lips, the feel of his hard cock pressing into me has me mewling for more.

“What’s wrong, little elf?”

“I ache,” I whine.

“Where?” he asks teasingly. His claw scrapes along my clit again and my back arches off the table. Over and over again he does it until I am shaking. Only to stop and look into my eyes. “Where do you ache, Elvie?”

“My pussy, godsdammit. Let me fucking come!” I whine. “Please.”

Triumph dances in his red eyes as he smirks down at me.

“Why didn’t you just say so, little elf?” Without warning he plunges two thick fingers inside of me and my screams echo off the wall. If his fingers are this size…gods help me. But I can’t wait to feel the length that was against me moments ago deep inside of me. Stretching me. “Gods, you are so tight.”

Arkain continues with his skilled fingers, alternating between fast and slow, twisting them just right until he’s hitting this spot inside of me I’ve never felt before. The sensation is too much and my eyelids begin to close. My thighs wrap around him tighter and begin to shake.

“Oh fuck, Arkain, I’m close. Don’t stop, don’t stop!” I chant as my moans become incoherent.

“Open your fucking eyes, Elvie. Watch me make you come. See who it is that gives you this pleasure.” My eyes fly open as my back arches. Sweat drips down my spine as my muscles seize. Pleasure barrels into me. I’ve gotten off with lovers in the past but nothing like this. His fingers are brutal between my legs, not stopping for a second as they pump into me over and over again.

Our eyes lock and with one final scrape of his claw on my clit, I’m tossed off the cliff and awash in pleasure. I almost come off the table as I scream his name. My eyes go blind. Warmth spreads from my stomach down to my toes. I feel weightless. The pleasure is so intense, my body shakes with aftershocks.

My vision returns slowly and I see Arkain smiling down at me. With shaking hands, I push myself up onto my elbows and watch as he gently pulls his fingers from my pussy and licks them clean. I shiver at the sight and at his groan of satisfaction.

“Your cunt is even sweeter than your mouth.”

I blush and go to reach for the top of his pants. Dinner be damned. Arkain chuckles and stops my progress, gripping my wrists in his strong hands.

“I think we scandalized the servants enough, don’t you?”

“But…” I start to whine and try to free myself to get at my prize that is currently pushing at the front of trousers. Using his considerable strength, he pulls me up so I am flush against his chest. I can feel his hardness press against my stomach. Maybe If I wiggle just right—

“Behave, naughty elf. This was about me showing you just how much I want you.”

“And I loved it, but now I want to show you how much I want you.”

“You will.” He steps back and helps push my gown back into place. “I’ve been dreaming about fucking you for weeks now. And our first time together will not be on this dining table where I can’t make you scream the way I want to.” Well how can I argue with that? He helps me down and kisses me gently and I can taste myself on his tongue. After making sure I am covered, I walk back to my side of the table on wobbly knees.

Reaching for a sip of my wine I notice Arkain staring at me oddly.

“What?”

“You’re too far away.” He waves a hand and suddenly the table is cut to a fraction of its size. A four-person table instead of twenty. Our knees brush under the table and I smile up at him. “I’ve been wanting to do that since the first time we had dinner together.”

He calls for the servants who come in, only briefly surprised by the smaller table. Or by the overwhelming smell of sex in the air.

“Why didn’t you?” I ask.

“I didn’t know if you’d want to be that close to me.”

“I think it’s pretty obvious that I do.” Slowly I drag my foot up the inside of his leg before he clamps it shut, trapping my foot between his knees.

“Careful, little elf. You’ve tempted the beast enough for one night.” I stick out my lower lip and Arkain laughs before tucking into his roasted peppers and releasing my foot from between his legs. “I’m taking you somewhere special tomorrow. We’ll leave early so be ready.”

“Where?”

“It’s a surprise, little elf.” He reaches over to tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear, gently caressing the point and causing me to shiver. “It’s something I think you’ll really enjoy.”