Reign of The Valdraken Read online

  She swore she saw anger flash in his eyes.

  “Judging by the way you flinch away from him, I’d say the only thing that he has let slip is his humanity. Greed does funny things to men.”

  Unsure of how to reply to his statement Reign shrugged her shoulders and decided she did not like the direction in which this conversation was progressing.

  “Could you pass me that tunic hanging there at least let a non-lady make herself decent for a conversation with such a handsome man.”

  With a sultry tone to her voice she added

  “Please sir.”

  Maikoh hesitated

  “I think I rather prefer you as you are but if you insist, who am I to deny such a beauty.”

  Reign knew she was flirting with danger and that if Drogan walked in at any point he would beat her mercilessly for her actions. Aside from Drogan she also felt a large amount of confusion toward the shifter in her room. He admitted to being there the night her wings appeared but did nothing to aid her.

  She was not one to easily forgive and she had no plans of granting this wolf forgiveness. Still there was something about him that pulled at her chest. She couldn’t explain it but she wanted him just as she wanted the mage and the fae.

  There was something about this shifter, something that drew her in and made her want to know more especially after his confession and refusal to fight back. She could have easily killed him earlier and she didn’t believe he would have stopped her.

  Whatever it was, it had made her stop her attack on him earlier and instead had her now considering just how few clothes, she was wearing alone in a room with him.

  Maikoh removed the tunic from the hanger and proceeded to close the short distance between them. As he moved his arm over her shoulder she struck.

  Reaching past the tunic too his wrist and pulling. She bent forward using the momentum of the pull and the flat surface of her back to flip the large man over herself and flat onto her bed.

  In less than a second, she was on him dagger angled at his rib cage just below his racing heart.

  “If you wanted me in your bed all you had to do was ask”

  A cocky grin gracing his beautiful face. If he only knew how much she wanted him in her bed they would be having an entirely different conversation right now.

  As he lay there Reign couldn’t help but be entranced by his beautiful features. Maikoh had high cheek bones, almond shaped eyes covered with thick dark lashes, his sandy blonde hair fanned out on her pillow, and those lush lips just begging for her to sink her teeth in.

  The longer she looked the larger his grin grew as if he understood exactly what he was doing to her. Adjusting her position slightly so her left hand rested a little higher on his shoulder she finally got a close up look at the rune on his chest.

  It was simple in design the black lines clearly depicting a silhouette of a wolf. The black appeared branded into his chest dramatically contrasting with the pale shade of his skin.

  She couldn’t help but to run her fingers across the mark. Maikoh closed his eyes and shuddered as she traced the shape with the tip of her finger.

  “You know touching a shifters signa is a very intimate act.”

  His voice came out low and scratchy and she could tell as much by the hardness that now pressed to her core. Removing her fingers from his chest she reached up to the cloth that covered her own. His eyes went wide as she began lifting the fabric below her right breast.

  She could see his breath catch and throat bob as he swallowed in anticipation of what she would do next. When the fabric was lifted just above the bottom of her large breast she stopped and pointed.

  His eyes followed the movement and once again went wide but this time for a much different reason. There just below her heavy breast on the right side of her rib cage the exact same symbol was seared into her skin.

  Chapter 7

  The Beginning

  I’ll never forget the first time I killed a man, the sheer exhilaration that shot through my body as his warm blood flowed over my hands. The scent of fear permeated the air so thick I could taste it. I never thought myself particularly evil until that night, but after what happened how could I believe anything but.

  It was a typical night at the Trollip, Drogan was serving behind the bar and I was serving the dinner crowd their stew for the evening. Most of the faces in the dining area where familiar, local farmers and business men who came for their nightly meal.

  A few whores spread amongst the crowd hoping to earn a free meal. There were of course a few strangers like always. Most seemed like the typical traveler that stopped for the evening dirty, hungry, and tired. There was one man that caught Reigns attention as he was harassing a whore called Lyla.

  A little harassment was normal, and the girls expected it as long as it ended with either a free meal or a little coin in their purse. This man though clearly had no interest in anything but a free ride.

  Lyla tried and failed several times to escape his grasp. She looked around for help but knew better, no one in the Trollip would come to her aid.

  Reign looked to Drogan, but he was clearly not interested in Lyla’s current situation. That is when Reign decided to intervene against her better judgment and knowing Drogan would not take kindly to her idea.

  The training her and Drogan had done added not only to her fighting prowess but helped her grow into her body as a woman. She knew little about beauty but could tell the older she got that men didn’t just give her a quick glance their stares lingered; filled with lust and greed.

  The years had been kind to her appearance and her healing abilities ensured nothing marred her perfect skin. She heard one of the barmaids describe her to a patron who was all too curious about Drogan’s little secret. She liked thinking of herself as pretty.

  The women had said she had skin as pure as driven snow, raven hair that reflected blue in the light, the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen; emerald in color with a black ring around the iris, lips as red as blood, and a curvy body that would make the most beautiful royal jealous.

  Thinking back to the way she had seen Lyla and the other girl’s act she started towards the man. Pulling the top of her tunic down a little to expose the swell of her breast as she put an extra sway in her walk. She approached slowly never taking her eyes off the man.

  It seems he noticed her as well as his grip on Lyla loosened enough that she could escape. Lyla gave Reign a grateful nod and quickly made her exit from the tavern. Reign arrived at the man’s table pouting her lips and batting her lashes. She leaned over the table giving the man an eyeful as her tunic top dipped lower over her chest.

  “Hey there big boy, you here for the food or the company?”

  Adding a sultry tone to her voice and a mischievous glint to her eyes. The man appeared dumb founded for a second his mouth slightly agape and his eyes never leaving her chest. Reign produced a slight giggle like she had seen the girls doing when they were trying to hook a man.

  Shaken from his perusal the man finally spoke.

  “Well, well darlin I was willing to settle for quick one with one of the ugly whores I’ve seen but now that you are hear I think my interest is more than peaked.”

  Reign tried to ignore the glance he made towards his crotch as he spewed the last words. It took a great deal of effort to not react when he reached his arm across the table and began to pull her towards him.

  As she made her way around the table, she looked towards Drogan and realized he had noticed what was going on. She assumed he would be coming over quickly and knew her time was limited.

  Reign intended to teach this man a lesson though, damned the consequences that where sure to come with her actions. The man pulled Reign to him one hand finding her backside and the other playing with the hair that hung down her shoulder.

  Her self-restraint was beyond tested at this point. She placed her left hand on the inside of the man’s knee and began a slow trek northward to the growing bulge in h
is trousers.

  The man tilted his head to look at what she was doing but Reign used her right hand to grab his chin forcing him to look her in the eye. She materialized a small dagger in her left hand as she was almost to the bulge that was her target.

  The man must have sensed her intention or noted the change of her posture. In the blink of an eye the man wrapped his calloused hand around her throat.

  “Nice try sweetie but I’m no fool and you’re going to pay for your little attempt.”

  Reign couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe, as the blackness began to edge at the corners of her vision. She knew she had to act and fast. She accessed her healing rune hoping it would keep her breathing long enough to knock the man out.

  The rune began to glow but unlike before instead of the steady warmth that normally spread along her body a sharp pain spread up her arm into her shoulder. The pain spread from one shoulder to the other and down into the hand she still had placed on the man’s chin.

  Unsure of what this was she decided to try her luck and pushed the pain from her hand into the man. She forced the light out thinking of all the pain she had been through in her short life, all the beatings, and abuse.

  Not realizing she had closed her eyes she opened them to see the man before her writhing in pain, his body covered in bruises, and blood. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing every time she thought of a pain that had been inflicted on her it appeared on the man’s body.

  He was hopeless to fight the magic Reign was funneling into his body. When she finally shook herself out of the shock, she realized the entire bar had stopped and where watching the two, including Drogan.

  Reign released her hold on the magic and as the light faded and the man fell to the ground, she realized he was not breathing.

  She pushed her booted foot forward towards the man’s body and nudged him lightly.

  When he made no movement, she did so again a little harder. He was dead, Reign had killed him.

  Chapter 8

  Present Day

  Maikoh’s eyes stared at the rune shaped like a wolf on her ribcage. Reign was so caught up in his blue eyes she didn’t even try to stop him when he raised a finger and traced the shape.

  An involuntary shiver ran down her spine and straight to her core. Without thinking she lowered her face to the shifters and pressed her lips to his. At first, he didn’t react most likely shocked by her forwardness. His lips finally parted and he returned her kiss. His tongue swept the crease of her mouth and they parted on instinct granting him access. A low moan made its way up her throat as she pressed her heated core to the growing bulge in his pants.

  She felt the growl in his chest as he pulled her closer taking their kiss deeper. He thrust his hips upward causing more friction and she began rub herself shamelessly back and forth.

  Maikoh was now the one moaning as he wrapped one hand around the back of her neck deepening the kiss. His free hand slid to her backside holding her tightly against his engorged cock.

  The kiss was broken as she felt her body being wrenched back. Reign felt the loss of his body before she realized what was happening. Her back and head hit the wall just as Drogan appeared in her vision.

  “What the Drak do you think you are doing? Nobody touches what is mine.”

  His anger was directed at the shifter, but she knew she would pay for the discretion in the end. Maikoh didn’t move for a second most likely as shocked as she was by the sudden lack of contact.

  When he snapped out of the momentary shock, he raised himself to a sitting position and looked straight at Reign.

  “Are you ok love?”

  Reign nodded to him in response and as soon as he got the confirmation he needed he turned his gaze to Drogan. Fire like she had never seen blazed behind the shifters eyes as he stood to his full height and faced Drogan head on.

  “I took leniency on you because you took care of the girl for so long. My kindness however ended the second you raised your hand to her.”

  Drogan scoffed at Maikoh

  “What are you going to do about it boy, that little slut belongs to me and I will do whatever the hell I please with or too her.”

  Reign knew it was irrational, but she had never challenged Drogan. She knew she could easily over power him, but she felt some sort of loyalty to the man who pulled her from the streets. He was ruthless when it came to her training, but he always kept her fed, clothed, and gave her a warm bed to sleep in.

  Sure, he beat her within in an inch of her life more times than she could count, treated her like a slave, freely mocked her, and abused her verbally and physically on a daily basis but he was the closest thing she had to a family.

  Realizing just how stupid she sounded in her head she looked to the man she considered family and stood looking him directly in the eye. Drogan saw the challenge for what it was and was clearly as shocked as Reign was by her disobedience.

  “I am no one’s property and I refuse to be a slave to a cruel master any longer!”

  Drogan turned from the shifter and directed his rage strait at her.

  “I taught you everything you know you little whore, are you really foolish enough to challenge me.”

  Reign held his gaze, took her fighting stance, and raised her hand allowing the shadows to wrap themselves around her.

  “I will not cower to you or any man any longer Drogan. You and I both know if you go down this road it will end with your death. You may have made me the monster I am today, but you will no longer use me to line your pockets.”

  Reign reached out with her shadow and wrapped them around Drogan’s neck. She lifted him off the ground, flung him across the room, and he slammed into the stone wall rendering him unconscious. She released the shadows and once again turned to Maikoh.

  The look on his face made a laugh rise up but she managed to swallow it down. He looked so shocked at what he had just witnessed and if she wasn’t mistaken the mix of fear and arousal shown in his eyes.

  “Well I sure as hell hope you have a plan because when he wakes up, he is going to be pissed.”

  Blinking away the shock Maikoh looked to Reign once more and swallowed loudly causing his throat to visibly bob up and down.

  “A…. a, a plan.”

  “Yes, a plan you know the thing that says hey hear is what we are going to do moving forward.”

  The shifter made no attempt to move. Reign reached her fingers up and snapped them in front of his face.

  “Hello, any one in there. Please don’t tell me you really just broke into my room to cop a feel and not to rescue me from this miserable life.”

  That seemed to grab his attention.

  “Yes, rescue you that is why we are here.”

  Reign looked to him expectantly but nothing else came from his mouth.

  “Oh, for Draks sake grab the bag behind the bed there.”

  Reign reached for her leathers and quickly dressed again as Maikoh grabbed the bag she kept packed incase anything ever happened that gave her cause to run. She grabbed the bag from his hands and threw some dried meat, cheeses, and bread from the stock room shelfs and headed toward the door.

  Realizing the wolf wasn’t following her she gave an exasperated sigh and turned to find Maikoh staring at Drogan’s unconscious body. With a smirk she pursed her lips and whistled.

  “Here boy, come on boy.”

  Maikoh gave her a look that was pure hatred.

  “That’s it boy you can do it, come to momma.”

  The shifter began stepping towards her and she heard someone bark out a laugh just on the other side of her door. Abban appeared laughing so hard he was hunched over.

  “Man, Maikoh she’s already got you trained like a little pup.”

  The shifter shoved his way past her and out the door pushing the mage over as he passed him.

  “Shut up Abban if you saw what I just saw you would do as she told you to as well.”

  That only made the mage laugh harder one hand holding his stom
ach the other whipping the tears pooling at the corners of his eyes.

  “Hey Maikoh, did you make sure you brought your leash, sounds like she might need it.”

  He managed to gasp out between laughs. Reign couldn’t help it her mouth curved into a smile and for the first time in forever she found herself laughing.

  Abban finally managed to compose himself enough to move forward and he and Reign made their way back towards the bar.

  When they exited the little hallway that led to the bar, they were greeted by Maikoh, Eerikki, and a very pissed off crowd of drunk men.

  Abban stepped in front of her much to her amusement considering she had just beat him in combat. Actually it was quite impressive that any of these men were standing and able to continue on after being subjected to her powers.

  The three men leaned towards each other and spoke frantically of their plans to escape the crowd. Reign crossed her arms and leaned her shoulder against the back wall with an amused grin on her face.

  She was willing to let them make fools of themselves if for no other reason than it would be entertaining. She was used to this. Men thinking they needed to make the decisions because of the extra appendage hanging between their legs.

  The gathered crowd started shouting.