The Fury Queen’s Harem_A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance Read online

  “What?” I asked, my voice hoarse from lack of speech. I’d only started speaking before the Archangel and his witch finally found the portal to leave Pandemonium.

  Something I couldn’t make out flashed by his eyes—sympathy, anger, hope, delight and more. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought he knew who I really was.

  “What are you doing here?” I demanded, my pose defensive.

  I was facing a powerful warlock who led a horde of demon army to hunt me.

  “To get a kiss,” he said, his eyebrow arched elegantly. “Like everyone else.”

  I blinked.

  “The messenger sent by the queen of the jungle…” He paused. “You’re the queen, right? I don’t want to get the wrong girl. You fit the profile—sunset-red hair, porcelain skin, pink lips, and deep blue eyes that can shift colors. The rogue messenger mentioned you also possess a beautiful, feminine figure with powerful legs, and I think his description doesn’t do you the slightest justice.” His smile warmed the starlight in his eyes.

  I flushed. I hadn’t heard such flattery for centuries. Everyone always called me the beasts of nightmare. Even the dragon princes I’d kissed hadn’t bothered to shower me with compliments, though their actions implied they thought I was attractive enough.

  Did I actually crave such sweet words?

  “The messenger said everyone will get a kiss if he comes to you,” he continued, “And the kiss he received was like a blessing from a goddess. That’s the prize I’m seeking now, even at the risk of the heat and the danger of the jungle.”

  My gaze involuntarily fell on his sculpted lips.

  He was even more sensual than the dragon princes. They were royalty, but they hadn’t honed what the warlock had honed. I didn’t know his true age, but I could sense that he was definitely much older than me and had seen all and done all.

  The dragon princes, however, felt younger than me.

  I was nearly a thousand years old, but I wouldn’t call myself experienced in life. The curse had teleported me here when I was only fifteen. For nine centuries after that, I’d been a slave, a killer, and a freak show, bound to Akem and his jungle.

  But I’d watched the aliens in the City of Nine closely, especially after the Archangel had arrived and tangled with his witch mate, so I knew what wild passion was.

  The warlock in front of me carried an air of noble elegance, more than anyone I’d seen, but appearances could always be misguiding. My gaze flicked away before returning to his enticing lips again.

  How would it feel to kiss such a dangerous man?

  I studied him warily.

  I set out to kiss every man to weed out the toads, but when one man had come alone and so eagerly for a kiss, it threw me off balance. I knew he didn’t just come for a kiss. It wasn’t that simple. This man—no, this powerful warlock in front of me—could turn to a killer in an instant and snap my neck while I collected the kiss.

  By demanding a kiss from me in such fashion, though he’d done it charmingly, he took the reins that I should be holding. Suddenly I felt I wasn’t in his league, and that humbled and infuriated me at once.

  “Did I tease you too much, milady?” he asked. “If I did, I apologize. I meant well. I hurried here for a spectacular kiss as soon as I could.”

  “I don’t know you!” I blurted out.

  His both eyebrows climbed up. “That didn’t stop you from kissing all the other strangers. You even lined them up around a huge tree and graced their uncouth mouths with your queenly one.” His gaze dropped to my lips with heat in it, and I involuntarily parted mine.

  Encouraged, he stalked toward me, his immense power, ancient and new at once, rippled in the air. And his magic drew me in, like wild, delicious danger and aged fine wine.

  Both the Fury beasts and the sleeping dragon beast in me liked it, wanting to be tamed.

  My pulse raced; my blood heated up.

  Could he be one of the true loves to me? My body responded to him, as strongly as it had reacted to the dragon princes, though in a different way.

  I had kissed two princes and had encountered the third. If Elvey was also my true love, then the lightning prince would be out of the picture.

  A shame. Rai had saved me, and he’d smelled like home and storms, which I fancied.

  Elvey headed straight toward me with a confident gait, coming to claim the kiss.

  “Stay where you are, Lord Elvey,” I said, putting up a hand in front of me.

  He halted, a half smile dancing like dark stars in his eyes.

  How could he get my emotions all riled up like this at first sight?

  “So, you’ve checked me out,” he said, his easy smile lingering.

  “Your demons talk too much.”

  “First, they’re actually a quiet, boring lot, compared to the other hunters from the other ships. Second, they aren’t my demons. Captain Fomorian is their boss, though he does listen to my counsel when he chooses.”

  I welcomed the new piece of information.

  “You all are hunters,” I said. “Who did you come to hunt?”

  I was expecting him to say, “How about I tell you all about it after a kiss?”

  He’d been flirting with me, and a bad boy usually came up with that kind of line.

  Bad boy? Why did I put Elvey in that category?

  But Elvey didn’t say the line. He stood where he was, shoulders relaxed, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. His hand ran though his thick, curly lavender hair. The gesture was so youthful and enticing, and I almost let my guard down and forgot how deep and ancient his eyes looked.

  He’s quite contradictory. Will his kiss be a paradox? That’ll be very interesting to find out.

  I snapped out of my reverie and put a leash on myself to stop my body from moving toward him like to a magnet and kissing him long and deep.

  Well, I would kiss him, but on my own time and when I had more control. This was my territory. This was my show.

  “It looks like I’m not going to get a kiss as easily as those lucky bastards.” He sighed.

  My heart jumped. Had he known about my kisses with the dragons as well? He was a warlock, so he could have the means to know more than he let on, which made him even more dangerous. My instinct warned me about him, yet it only excited me more.

  I should put him last on my to-kiss list.

  “You got my message mixed-up,” I said. “I did not send the messengers out to summon every hunter here for a kiss. Kissing is never on the plate.”

  “It’s not?” he asked, a teasing disappointment in his eyes. “I risked a lot coming here for that.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You barely risked anything. You just popped out from thin air with the aid of your magic, and you can leave just as soon.”

  I regretted my last sentence. I didn’t want him to leave.

  “So, you don’t like my grand entrance? I thought the queen of the jungle would appreciate a bit of theatrics. Would you prefer me to venture into the hazardous jungle by foot, fight all the scary monsters, and finally reach your chamber, like a hero in the old age? I think I can deliver that fancily if that’s what you want.”

  I waved a hand at him in irritation. “I don’t like being blindsided,” I said. “I summoned everyone because all of you entered my realm and treated it as a hunting ground.”

  “Oh, it’s the hunting that ticked you off.”

  “You haven’t answered my question. Why have you come to Pandemonium? Who did you come to hunt?”

  “They all came to hunt, except me,” he said, peeking into my eyes meekly, as if trying to disarm me.

  “Hunt who?”

  “Furies,” he said. “Whoever gets the three heads of the Furies will inherit a dragon realm on a faraway planet. I heard that the rogue hunters from the ship Falling Star almost got the three Furies with their drones.” There was concern in his voice. He was the first one who didn’t call my other forms the beasts. “There’ll be more bloodshed on this pl
anet, and the one who will first take the heads won’t be the last one to stand and leave here.” There was undisguised menace at the end of his conclusion.

  “If you don’t want the beasts’ heads, why did you come here?”

  “I can’t tell you all my secrets, can I? What if you hurt me after I answer all your questions, since you’ll have no need for me anymore? I have to protect myself.”

  I snickered. “I don’t go around hurting those who don’t try to do me harm.”

  “But you’re a powerful queen, and all the monsters obey you, which is impressive. I’m sure it takes more than beauty and kindness to rein them in.” His blatant gaze roved over me, its weight caressing me and making me self-conscious. “Where are your Furies? I can aid them with their healing if they are wounded.” His blue eyes examined me, as if I was the one who had been hurt.

  And I was.

  A warning flashed in my head. Did he know the Furies were me?

  “My guardians are fine,” I said in a clipped tone. I didn’t trust the warlock, yet part of me tried to persuade me to let down my guard and let him in.

  Could he manipulate a mind? But I hadn’t felt a nudge to the shield of my mind, and my head wasn’t foggy, either.

  All I felt was a buzzing thrill coursing in my blood that had nothing to do with magic, but everything to do with Elvey’s presence and the purr of his voice.

  While the dragon princes could stoke my lust like no other, Elvey electrified my every cell.

  No matter how he made me feel, he wouldn’t reveal his true agenda, and there was no point in beating a dead horse. I should probably kiss him and see how it would turn out. If it didn’t turn out good, I’d just send him away.

  “I’ll give you a kiss as I gave everyone else, as a form of blessing,” I lied.

  He grinned, his eyes brightening up. “Really?”

  Before he strode toward me, I said, “Stop!”

  He spread his arms apart to show that he was unarmed and harmless. I swallowed a scold. Elvey didn’t need a weapon to harm me. Was he unaware that I knew he was a powerful warlock?

  “You said you were going to kiss me,” he said. “Was that a tease?”

  “No,” I said. “You don’t come to me. I come to you. And you’ll close your eyes when I kiss you. It won’t hurt, and it’ll be quick.”

  He laughed, as if he actually looked forward to being hurt by my kiss. His laughter was richly sensual, which made me want to pull him to me and kiss him hard.

  But I gave him a chiding look. “And you don’t kiss me back unless I order you to.”

  “The direction is clear,” he whispered. “Elvey Fionn at your service.”

  I’d heard the demons calling him Lord Elvey, and when he threw his full name easily at me like that, I was once again off balance.

  Elvey Fionn was a Fae name, but he was a sorcerer.

  “Close your eyes,” I demanded, “put your hands behind your back, and don’t try anything stupid.” If he did, I’d knee him in the groin. As a half-Fae, I possessed superior speed and he wouldn’t see it coming.

  “I wouldn’t want that,” he said, as if reading my menacing intention. But if he was a mind reader, I’d have felt a brush in my head.

  He shut his eyes, his lips stretching with lingering amused laughter.

  Gingerly, I moved toward him, but stopped half a foot from him.

  His thick lashes nearly touched the hollows under his eyes. His nose marked his highborn breed. He was not one who rose from the poor and gathered his power from scratch, like the sorcerers I’d heard of before I’d been banished. His features were so elegant, yet they weren’t lacking masculine beauty.

  I sucked in a breath, my hand reaching toward him. I wanted to trace my fingers over the contour of his long, dark eyebrow, down to his high cheekbone, then his sculpted lips that seemed to be molded to perfection, before I kissed him.

  I wanted it to be slow and sensual and take my time to thoroughly enjoy it. It wasn’t just for lifting the curse, and it wasn’t even because of hidden passion and lust. It was something more that I couldn’t put into words.

  His lips parted, waiting with eagerness and promise—a promise unknown to me yet would be there.

  Like love’s true kiss, a voice whispered in my head.

  Even if it wasn’t true love, I wanted to taste this and embrace his seduction.

  I traced my thumb over his cheek.

  He became very still, not at the growls my monster guards made outside the door, but at my touch.

  I sighed inwardly. It had taken them this long to find out I was receiving a guest who’d slipped past them? But I couldn’t blame them when the one who’d slipped past was a powerful warlock. There was a reason he was called Lord Elvey.

  Elvey shivered as my fingers traced along his strong jaw line. It was only a nanosecond, then he stilled again. Only his breath rasped.

  His scent, unmasked by his magic now, wafted toward me. It was faint, but it was enough for me to scent Fae in him, though not a full-blood one.

  That discovery punched me in the stomach and drove the air out of me.

  I knew I was half-Fae, but I’d never got to learn anything about my mother’s side. It was forbidden. Dragons and Fae didn’t mix. I’d been wondering for years if that was somehow tied to my curse.

  And now both Fae and dragons had come to my small world on Pandemonium, and both species smelled of distant home and forest sun and shadow, which pumped such longing in my blood.

  I leaned toward him.

  One kiss, and I would find more about him.

  And he wouldn’t be able hide who he was from me.

  A furious roar stopped me in my tracks.

  Blaze, the fire dragon prince, charged in, a shield in his left hand, and a longsword in his right. Henry lunged at him, but Blaze slammed him back with his shield. At least, he didn’t use the sword to cut down my hound. If he had, he would suffer my wrath, no matter how amazing his kiss had been.

  Henry hadn’t really wanted to eat the fire dragon, either, since I’d ordered my monsters not to kill, but to herd any hunters toward me. Their fight was due to an obvious misunderstanding, since the dragon prince didn’t appear to be one who appreciated being herded or escorted.

  Two giant Lamashtus also dashed in as Henry’s backup.

  Sybil landed on Henry’s rear, waiting for me to issue orders.

  I waved for all of them to leave. They aren’t invaders. I flashed a few images in their heads. They’re my guests.

  Henry snarled at Blaze once more, then stared at Elvey with menace.

  Elvey flicked his gaze from the dragon prince to Henry and arched an eyebrow at the hellhound. Henry half-snarled and half-whimpered, cringed, then bolted out. His peers followed him out without any further contest.

  Blaze glared daggers at Elvey, then looked at me with jealous rage. “You! Girl! Are you just going to kiss everyone?”

  A corner of Elvey’s lips tugged up in a half-smile and the warlock slanted a lazy glance at the dragon prince, not so much worried about the sword in his opponent’s hand. Elvey graced me with a sly, full smile, as if the fun had just begun.

  I’d never expected that I’d get myself tangled in a situation where men would fight over me.

  “You don’t own me, Blaze,” I said. “All we shared was a kiss.”

  “It wasn’t just a kiss!” he said, temper flaring. “It was the kiss of the century, and you don’t get it just with anyone.”

  “Some kisses are good, some bad,” I said mildly like a good liar. “I just have to take it all. As queen of the jungle, it’s a custom for me to kiss every alien who comes to visit my realm. That’s why I sent out the messengers. I thought you were quite satisfied with my kiss, so why are you complaining?”

  Elvey chuckled.

  “They aren’t alien visitors.” Blaze raised his voice. “They’re all hunters, including the sleazy one you were going to kiss. They all came to slay your beasts!”

&n
bsp; I narrowed my eyes. “And you didn’t?”

  His jaws tightened. “I considered aborting my former effort to hunt your guardians after that kiss. Don’t tell me you didn’t feel a special link between us. You ran away before I could get to know you more and offer you my protection. I’ve been tracking you ever since, but I ran into a few demons and had to take time removing them from my path.” He sent another threatening glare at Elvey before focusing his longing gaze on me. “As soon as I took care of them, the damned cannibal plants trapped me and tried to eat me.”

  He unconsciously touched his chin. It was still raw from the contact with the cannibal plants, as was his forehead where it wasn’t covered by his mask.

  “That’s quite impressive, Prince Blaze,” Elvey said with a mocking admiration. “You even fought off the friendly plants. I’ve learned to deal with them. All you need to say is one magical word—please—to get them to loosen their eager embrace.”

  His golden eyes glowing with rage, Blaze strode toward us. “Get away from her!”

  One kiss inside the cannibal tree had made him so possessive? What if he knew I must collect a kiss from each supposed three true loves?

  “I’m afraid I can’t oblige you, Prince Blaze,” Elvey said. “The queen hasn’t graced me the kiss I’ve risked so much to come for.”

  “What did you risk?” Blaze demanded.

  “Well, first,” Elvey said, “the demons won’t be happy with me if they find out my purpose for coming to meet the lovely queen of the jungle. Who knows what those brutes will do when they get really upset. They’re a horde and I’m only one man.”

  “I thought you were their ringleader,” Blaze spat out.

  “Appearances can be deceiving,” Elvey said.

  “So, you’re not their Lord Elvey?” Blaze sneered.

  It seemed the hunters had all done research and knew who they were competing with to get my heads. And I doubted that the first one who possessed my heads would be the last one standing.

  “I am above them, but I’m not their leader,” Elvey drawled. “The demons aren’t my concern. However, my life can be forfeited if someone else knows what I came here to do.”