Taken by Passion: King of Hearts (Wonderland Book 1) (10 page)

Alice flopped back in her chair. “I need a brain break.”

Jarronn got to his feet. He leaned over and kissed Alice on top of her head, breathing in her delicious scent. “Perhaps that’s enough for today.”

She tipped her face to look at him. “How about showing me around the castle?”

“That is for another time.” Jarronn used his magic to send the deck of cards back to Kalina’s quarters.

Alice gave him an expression of dismay, but she remained quiet and in her chair as he headed for the door. He looked over his shoulder as he opened the door and held back a smile at the beauty of his future queen.

He left and locked the door behind him with his magic.

KALINA ENTERED THE ROOM that Alice still considered her prison. Kalina took Alice’s hand as soon as she reached her. “King Jarronn has requested that I take you to the pools.”

Alice’s eyes widened. “I get to leave the freaking room?”

“Yes.” Kalina had a twinkle in her eyes. “But first you must be prepared.”

“Prepared?” Alice followed Kalina to the jars of oils.

Kalina picked one out and Alice caught the scent of orange blossoms, one of her favorite smells. It didn’t take long before Kalina had oiled Alice’s skin and combed out her long hair.

When Kalina was finished, she took hold of one of Alice’s hands and led her over the cool marble floor toward the doorway.

Being naked around Jarronn and Kalina had been one thing, but it was another to walk out of the room and potentially be seen by anyone around.

“Can’t I put on clothes?” Alice brought Kalina to a halt. “Please?”

Kalina shook her head. “Come as you are.”

Alice wanted to fight Jarronn’s order, but was too excited at the prospect of getting to see more of the castle and maybe more. She let Kalina lead her from the room. So here she was, now headed down a massive hallway, naked, with dangly things hanging off her boobs. She thought about being traumatized, frustrated, and angry, but mostly right now she was excited.

She had no doubt that she’d eventually escape, especially if that blonde woman who’d been outside the window a few days ago helped her. After all, Alice was Alexi’s sister, so Alice’s soul thrived on challenge, at least at some level. And alternate universe or not, Alexi would no doubt be suing the universe itself by now to get Alice back.

Alice tilted her head to the side. Before she left, though, she was going to have to sample what this Kingdom of Hearts had to offer.

She mentally shook her head. This was crazy.
She
was crazy. She actually believed all this was real.

Alice’s head was going to explode with an overload of information, sights, sounds, and smells if she didn’t take things a little slower.

Trying to distract herself, she studied her surroundings. Through arches along the hallway she saw glimpses of massive rooms and beautiful furnishings, all illuminated by the warm glow of candlelight—thousands of candles must have been burning there. The castle smelled of roses and wood oils, and the light scent of the candles.

She had a brief thought of posting a picture of Tarok to Facebook and including “Kingdom of Hearts” as the location and tagging it “with Kalina and King Jarronn.” And of course her mood would be “feeling crazy.”

Maybe on Pinterest she could start an “Essential Oils” board with pictures of Kalina’s jars of the oils she used to massage Alice. And of course she would make a board on “Bondage Fantasies.” Oh, and she could include pictures of all the kings to her already existing board, “Delicious Men” and add Land of Tarok to “Travel Destinations.”

She could just imagine tweeting to her friends:

@AliceOBrienSF is exploring Kingdom of Hearts w/King Jarronn. Will I meet Mad Hatter and Cheshire Cat?
#weirdcreatures
#goingcrazy
#hotkings
.

Okay, she really
was
feeling crazy.
Really
crazy.

“If you don’t mind me asking.” Alice looked at Kalina as they walked down a set of stairs. “What was it like to be with those three men at once?”

Kalina gave Alice a sensual smile that told her even more than her words. “To be taken by three Tarok kings at once is the most pleasurable of all pleasures. But four? That would be like leaving this world for the Golden Lands.”

Good lord.
Alice nearly groaned aloud at the memory of Kalina taking three men at the same time. Except next time it could be four?

Jarronn was the High King, something that hadn’t quite sunk in before.
Wow.
Somehow it was even more arousing to know that the High King had been turned on by plump Alice O’Brien. Was that true? Or had it been her oversexed imagination wanting it to be so? The doubts crowded her brain like bees clustered in a hive.

A rumbling sound, like a river, met Alice’s ears, drawing her attention as Kalina led her through an archway. She pushed aside thoughts of Tarok’s gorgeous kings as she and Kalina walked into the night, onto a wide stone path and into an exotic jungle kissed by bright golden moonlight. The further she walked, the more she was certain she heard a waterfall.

Alice breathed out a sound of admiration and wonder as her gaze traveled over lush palm-like trees waving in a warm, moist, and gentle wind. The breeze caught their hair, and one of Kalina’s locks brushed across Alice’s breast, and then fell away.

In the glowing night, Alice felt exhilarated and wanton, her well-oiled and orange blossom-scented flesh caressed by the air, her long blonde hair brushing the tops of her breasts. Kalina’s palm was soft in Alice’s, and it surprised her how comfortable it felt holding the beautiful woman’s hand.

Their bare feet padded softly over the flagstone path as they neared a series of large tiered pools carved into rock. The waterfall Alice had heard when they entered the jungle fed into the topmost pool, which in turn spilled into the three pools below it. Each pool glowed a golden emerald green as if lights were beneath the surface.

Smells of water, along with tropical scents of orchids and rich, moist earth, filled Alice’s senses. “This is amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

When they reached the bottommost pool, they stepped onto soft grass and then Kalina released Alice’s hand. It was dark in this place, yet the moonlight made everything easy to see.

A monkey’s shriek echoed throughout the jungle, followed by the rumbling growl of a large predator, like the tigers Alice had seen in Las Vegas. She shivered and her gaze cut to Kalina.

The woman didn’t appear frightened at all. Just the opposite, in fact. Her chin was tilted up, her chest thrust forward and rising with the strength of her breathing. A fine layer of perspiration shimmered on her fair skin, and her kohl-lined eyes were heavy lidded with arousal as she gazed into the jungle.

Alice followed Kalina’s gaze and sucked in her breath, ready to let loose with a scream.

A white tiger walked toward them, its ice-green eyes focused on Alice. The eyes seemed somehow familiar, but fear caused her skin to tighten and her belly to clench.

Only the feel of Kalina’s hand clasping her forearm and the woman’s reassuring murmur of, “Watch him, Alice,” kept Alice from yelling her head off in terror.

Him.
Kalina had called the big, scary monster of a cat “him” like he was the prime minister or a king.

The beast’s glossy white-and-black-striped coat rippled beneath the moonlight as every smooth step brought him closer. His movements were fluid and almost sensuous, and so beautiful he was absolutely breathtaking. As he neared them, Alice noticed the stripe on his upper left leg was actually in a familiar shape. It looked like the heart tattoo on Jarronn’s left biceps.

And then the tiger was growing—changing,
morphing,
right before Alice’s eyes.

It happened so fast Alice didn’t know whether to scream or cry out in amazement, or faint. One minute she’d been looking at a tiger, and in the next she was face-to-face with a very naked Jarronn.

If she’d needed any more convincing that she wasn’t on Earth any longer, seeing Jarronn transform from a white tiger to a man sure did the trick.

“I don’t believe it,” she whispered as she turned her gaze up to meet his eyes. “You’re a transformer or—or a shape-shifter.”

“I am your king.” He gave her a hard, piercing look. “And you are forgetting the rules. Must we add another punishment?”

Heat flushed Alice’s cheeks and she placed her hands behind her back as she moved her feet farther apart and dropped her gaze—only to see his erection was just as long and thick and delicious-looking as his brothers’ had been when she’d watched them take Kalina. It was the first time she’d seen Jarronn naked and he was even more glorious without clothes than he was with them.

“Do you wish to suck me?” he murmured when Alice couldn’t take her gaze from the sudden object of her desire. “Or shall I give that pleasure to Kalina?”

Out of nowhere a hot bolt of jealousy stabbed at Alice’s belly. From the corner of her eye she saw that Kalina was standing in the position of “respect” and was running her tongue along her bottom lip as though excited by the idea.

No!
The intensity of the feeling shocked Alice, but she only knew that she didn’t want Kalina to have Jarronn.

After all these days, locked in the room, spending time with Jarronn, she
wanted
him more than anything.

“I would like to,” Alice said in a rush, and then remembered more of what Jarronn had taught her. “I mean, if it would please you, Milord.”

A rumble of satisfaction rose up inside Jarronn. Yes, his future queen was learning well. “Kneel, wench.” With her hands still clasped behind her back, Alice gracefully knelt before him. She visibly trembled as she stared at him, waiting for his command. “Suck me until I reach climax,” he demanded.

“May I use my hands?” she asked.

He shook his head and let out a low growl. “Only your mouth.”

Alice ran her tongue over the head of his erection in a light caress before she slid her soft lips around his thick girth and took him deep.

Jarronn purred his pleasure and clenched his hands in Alice’s hair, pulling her head back so he could watch her mesmerizing eyes. Her hair felt soft in his hands, her mouth hot and wet. He smelled her passion and knew she wanted him inside her. The scent of Kalina’s desire was strong, too, and she certainly had earned many rewards for her services.

“Kalina.” He continued to thrust in and out of Alice’s mouth as he spoke to the sorceress. “Kneel beside Alice.”

When the sorceress complied, he said, “Slip your fingers into your slit.” The sorceress didn’t hesitate. “Remember, Alice,” he murmured as he turned his gaze to her. “You may not climax without my permission.”

He kept his grip on Alice’s hair and his eyes locked with hers as he thrust in and out of her mouth. The need in his loins turned into a storm that raged as though it might tear him to pieces.

“Kalina, you may come,” he nearly growled, and the sorceress screamed almost at once, her hips jerking hard against her hand. Birds startled from trees overhead and a monkey chattered, so loud was Kalina’s cry.

Jarronn gripped the back of Alice’s head and held her as his own climax thundered through him. His seed spilled into her throat as she sucked him without hesitation, drawing out every drop until he pulled out of her mouth.

He released her and stepped away. She licked her lips, as though savoring his taste, and stared up at him. “May I come, Milord?” Alice asked in a hoarse whisper.

“No. You have received your first punishment from your first day here,” Jarronn said in a low voice. “Trust me, Alice. If you learn to trust and obey me completely, without question, you will never want for release again.”

Alice glared at him but said nothing. She seemed to be at war with herself, as if coming to some deeply wrought decision. At last, she looked away from him, then down at the ground. Her hands moved behind her back.

“Yes, Milord,” she murmured.

Her tone clearly communicated the unspoken, “
You bastard,”
and the air filled with the tang of her anger and resolve.

Resolve to what?

Obey him or pacify him until she got what she wanted? And did she want to fuck him or kill him?

Jarronn’s lips curled with the thrill of challenge. She would submit to him or all would be lost—and she would never submit to a less powerful man, or any man save him. Of that he felt certain.

Surely there was no woman more perfect for him in all the worlds.

Alice wanted to deck Jarronn. The Bastard. She needed to climax so badly she could scream, and he was deliberately torturing her. He was damn lucky he wasn’t still in her mouth or she’d give him a little torture of her own.

Trust, my ass. What the hell does trust have to do with sex?

Then she thought about her ex and how he’d been having sex with two other people. He’d violated every sense of the word “trust”.

She bit the inside of her cheek so hard that she tasted the coppery tang of blood. But she kept her hands tightly clasped behind her back, her gaze lowered. She glared at his feet instead of mouthing off, thinking how much fun it would be to slide pieces of bamboo under his toenails.

“Kalina, your services are no longer required,” Jarronn’s voice rumbled. “You may return to your chambers.”

“Thank you, Milord.” Kalina eased to a standing position. Alice barely heard the woman’s soft footsteps as she turned away and walked down the path.

Jarronn moved and then she could no longer see his feet, but she heard slight rustling noises. Was he coming up with her second punishment even now?

Heat coursed through Alice anew, and she was furious at herself for being so aroused. She was almost anxious to see what he would do to her.

What’s with that, Alice?

The waterfall pounded into the highest pool, the pulsating sound somehow in tune with the throb and ache inside her. The gentle light from the pools cast a warm glow over the ground. She’d been so hot and needy for an orgasm since she’d sat on that bench in Golden Gate Park. It seemed ages ago, and between watching the foursome and Jarronn’s constant sexual teasing, and now this. Alice didn’t know how much more she could take.