Scarred Queen (The Queens Book 1) Read online

  “No,” he said sharply, shaking her. “No, Casey. You come back to me. Look at me, cariña.”

  She blinked again and then he was in focus once more. Then he moved within her, withdrawing before plunging back in. She was tight, but she was also so very wet ensuring that it no longer hurt. It felt… fucking incredible! She gasped and lifted her hips to meet his thrusts. His eyes blazed with pride when her primal nature took over, rising up and meeting him.

  “Yes, Casey, fuck yes,” he growled, swooping down to kiss her hard on the lips again. She licked her lips, tasting herself in his kiss, sinfully spicy and erotic. “Good fucking girl.”

  He set a hard, fast pace, fucking her with intense strokes that made her cry out and grip the leather belt above her head. He rode her hard, his cock bottoming out deep within her, slamming ruthlessly into her cervix. She tried to bring her knees up, to force him back, to slow him down, but he gripped her thighs and held her wide, stretching his body over hers.

  Her face twisted and she begged him to slow down, “Please, Reyes, the pressure… it’s too much, it’s been too long for me.”

  He gripped her jaw and forced her to look at him, his eyes blazing into hers. He adjusted his hips, fitting himself closer in the cradle of her hips and then slamming himself home. He shook his head, his dark eyes tender and brutal all at the same time, “No, nena, you can take me. Always.” The moment was so private, so barbaric, she felt like something in her was clinging to a rope that he was gripping with his massive strength. Something he was refusing to let go of. She stared back at him and relaxed the muscles in her legs.

  He reached between them and glided his thumb over her slick, over-sensitive clit. She screamed, flinging her head back into the pillows. The sensations were too much after he’d played with her body, bringing her to the edge over and over again. He hovered his broad shoulders over her and leaned in so he could see her face while he continued to strum her body like a master player.

  “It’s time to let go, mi amor, mi cariña,” he growled softly, the tender words at odds with the brutal slam of his cock in her body. “Come for me, Casey.” And she did, flying apart in a world of colour that only she could see in her broken head.

  “Oh fuck, woman, the sounds you make,” he snarled. He bent his head and bit her neck right where her throat met her shoulder. “Do it again,” he groaned against her skin and slammed himself deep into her body while continuing to stroke her clit, circling the slippery nub with hard fast strokes of his thumb.

  She jerked hard against her bindings, twisting her hips to escape the second, even more intense explosion building within. She yelled and cried for him to stop and then begged him to let her come again. He watched her face the whole time with an intensity that would have scared her if she were in the right mind to pay attention.

  “Oh god, Reyes!” she screamed. “I’m coming!”

  “Yes, cariña,” he hissed in her ear, slamming himself deep inside her just as she clamped down hard on his cock, anchoring him in her tight, silken passage. “Come for me.” He slammed his mouth over hers and bit her lip until his teeth cut into the tender tissues and she tasted her own blood.

  Her hips jerked up into his, her orgasm driving higher with the slight pain he inflicted. Her eyes flew open to meet the blazing satisfaction in his as she felt the hot flood of semen deep within her. Slowly she opened her mouth to allow his tongue entry and they kissed leisurely while he stroked his cock slowly in and out of her, filling her with his seed. He refused to let her eyes go until he was done. And even then, when she tried to break their kiss and turn her head away, he reached for her jaw and held her still, forcing her to look at him still.

  Reyes swiped his thumb across the tiny bite mark he’d given her, smearing her blood. He held it up for her to see and raised a dark eyebrow. “You see this, Casey?” she nodded slowly, her heart beating faster. She knew this moment was deeply significant and she felt both elation and terror well up. He pressed his thumb against the place on his lip where she had bitten him and drawn blood. “From now until death, we bleed together. Understand?”

  She nodded.

  “Say it, Casey,” he demanded.

  “I understand, Reyes,” she whispered. “We bleed together.”

  He bent and kissed her, sealing his blood vow. She sighed and opened her mouth to him, wishing he would freaking unbelt her already so she could wrap her arms around him. In just one good fuck he’d managed to give her two earth-shattering orgasms, shake her loyalty to her former life to its very core and crack a fissure in her heart as wide as the Altiplano. God, these intense mafia guys.

  Maybe this was the life for her.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Where is she?” Reyes demanded, snapping at Alejandro as he strode down the stairs toward the front doors of the mansion. He knew she wasn’t inside since he had his entire staff searching for her and no one had found her.

  Fuck, he hadn’t taken his eyes off her for two solid weeks and once, just once he’d allowed her a moment alone. She’d asked him if she could go take a nap by herself while he attended to business and she up and fucking disappeared. He knew his obsession with her was bordering on insanity, that she needed a little breathing room, but he couldn’t seem to help it. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, though he was about to revise that opinion. No, he just couldn’t seem to leave her alone. Didn’t want to keep his hands or his eyes to himself. Now that she was in his keeping he wanted his queen in his bed, in his presence and by his side with a fervency that surprised even him. He’d always been extremely solitary, preferring his own company. But now he wanted Casey with him; always.

  He didn’t give her a chance to deny him. He touched her at every opportunity, rarely allowing her to leave their bed, unless meals or business forced his hand. And even then, he decided he wouldn’t be separated from his woman. He was past the point of caring to examine why he needed her so badly, he just did. The first moment he set eyes on Casey, she sucked him in like a moth to flames, burning him in the best possible way. Now that he had her in his home, had tasted paradise in her pussy, he was beyond questioning this obsession. It just existed deep within his breast.

  Something within him had shifted, the man that had violently risen up to create the most powerful cartel in Bolivia and beyond was now consumed by a woman. And he would gladly share his power with the woman that obsessed his mind, body and soul.

  If he could fucking find her.

  At first, she had been confused and even reluctant to accompany him everywhere. She’d hesitated when he’d insisted she attend business with him, but he hadn’t given her a choice, seating her at his side within constant easy reach. Even his men hadn’t wanted to speak in front of a woman, especially an outsider, but one steely look from the boss had loosened their tongues. His unwillingness to compromise, combined with Casey’s lighthearted, bizarre chatter had eventually won a few of his men over. Her constant presence was beginning to ease the rest of his staff into the idea of having her around as a permanent fixture.

  Now he just needed to find the woman and remind her, possibly using methods she wouldn’t enjoy, that she must never leave his sight. He eyed his second-in-command with icy deliberation. “You know where she is,” he grunted and considered shooting the man for not offering the information the instant he realized Reyes was searching for her.

  “Calm down,” Alejandro urged him, holding up a hand. He yawned widely and ran a hand over his unshaven face. He’d arrived back from Miami the evening before, reluctantly satisfied with Diego’s progress on that front. Apparently, he cared little for the other man, but was convinced he could pick up where Ignacio had left off until the Bolivian’s were ready to make a final decision.

  “Speak now or die.” They both knew he was leaving the word ‘horribly’ hanging in the air.

  Alejandro grunted and turned on his heel, mumbling something like. “I tried.” Then a little louder. “If you’ll follow me, I can show you where s
he is.”

  “Tell me she’s safe and I may spare your life,” Reyes said with deadly calm, falling into step next to his formerly trusted second.

  Alejandro shot him a look and gave Reyes a little more space as they curved around the side of the house, skirting the majestic white columns and following a meticulously cared for hedged path down to the training grounds behind the men’s barracks. Reyes’ frown grew progressively blacker as they approached the buildings where dozens of his single men slept, ate and played.

  “I can assure you that she is perfectly safe and in hands of a man that would rather die than allow any harm to come to your woman, Reyes,” Alejandro assured him.

  Reyes grunted. “He may lose his hands for touching what is mine.”

  Alejandro remained wisely silent as they approached the outdoor gym and weight facilities. Reyes caught sight of her right away, her pale blond hair shining like a beacon in the weak sunlight filtering through the cloud cover. He growled savagely and strode faster when he observed her take a nasty spill, his head of security having just thrown her to the ground over his shoulder. Reyes had his gun un-holstered and pointed straight at Nicolas’ face before anyone could blink.

  Reyes had become so protective of his American lover over her few weeks at the compound that it was almost a certainty that he would have pulled the trigger if she hadn’t reacted as fast as she did, scrambling off the ground and leaping in between the two men. Luckily for Nicolas, she chose to fling herself at Reyes instead of the head of security or his life would have been forfeit no matter what she would have said in his defense. Reyes could not have stood her touching another man in that moment.

  “No!” she cried out, clinging to Reyes, her fearful eyes begging for mercy. Mercy for another man, he thought savagely. “Please, don’t hurt him!”

  “Explain,” he snarled in a low voice.

  “Okay, y-yes, I can explain,” she breathed, trying unsuccessfully to tug his gun arm down. She gave up and just wrapped her own trembling arm around his instead and talked as fast as she could. “It’s just that you’ve been keeping me with you every minute of every day and insisting I go with you to all these business meetings. And eventually you’re going to have to go off property to meet with your other associates and I assume you’ll have to take me with you… I mean you as much as admitted you won’t be leaving me behind. Ever. So, self-defense is a must. And I know you’ve been trying to teach me some stuff, like how to punch and how to duck a hit. But, Reyes, you’re a… well… you’re a really bad teacher.”

  Reyes blinked, finally releasing his head of security from the death glare he’d been giving him and turned his head to look at the psychotic blond he’d pledged his life to. A bad teacher? She could not possibly have just said that. “What the fuck, Casey?” he growled.

  Alejandro took a step back and swallowed what sounded like a choking cough. If he wasn’t careful he was going on Reyes’ kill list too. Fuck, he was going to have to replace his entire, very talented team of men just for touching and looking at what belonged to him.

  Casey ran her fingertips up and down the arm that was still tensed and extended in case he still needed to put a bullet in Nicolas. She licked her lips, ensuring his eyes continued to stay on her beautiful face. “It’s just that you refuse to actually do anything that might scare me, Reyes, and we both know you pull your punches when you try to teach me. And,” she glanced over her shoulder at the two men that were now pretending to do anything but listen to their deadly boss go soft over a woman, then she leaned in and whispered, “we both know every time you get your hands on me you forget about the self-defense part of the lesson. We usually end up in bed before I learn anything about taking care of myself properly. Whereas Nicolas is actually interested in teaching me how to survive if things go south.”

  Reyes groaned and dropped his arm around her waist, hauling her against his taut body. Fuck. She had a fucking point, and he hated it. He rubbed his face with his other hand, attempting to push away some of the aggravation. “Why couldn’t you just explain that you were attempting to take combat lessons instead of sneaking off, nena?” he asked sternly.

  “Would you have let me go?” she asked seriously.

  He thought about it for a moment and then gave her an honest answer. “No.”

  Her face fell a little and then a look he’d not seen since he brought her to Bolivia swept over her face, paling her delicate features. Her fingers clenched against his stomach muscles where she was holding on to him. “What is it, Casey?” he asked.

  “W-will you punish me?” she whispered. “I lied to you a-and left the house without your permission. I let another man touch me.” Her voice rose in alarm as she recited her infractions.

  He frowned at her, disliking the stiffness of her body, the withdrawal he could feel in her. As though he could feel the flinching of her soul as she curled within herself and slowly begin to drift to a place that he couldn’t reach. He shook her and then squeezed her waist until her beautiful eyes jumped to his. It bothered him that for just a moment, she was right, the dictator within him wanted to do exactly that. Murder his head of security and show his mistress her place. But the lover preferred that his queen be whole and undamaged.

  “Tell me why you think I would punish you, Casey,” he demanded.

  Shakily she lifted her fist in between them and showed him the back of her hand with the shiny scarred “H”. Ah, so the truth finally emerged. He’d been waiting for her to tell him the truth of this scar. He turned and nodded sharply to his men, “Dismissed.”

  He started pulling her toward the nearest building, the sauna, wanting to have their conversation in private. He knew whatever she was going to tell him wouldn’t be pretty. That it would be some story of mob justice against a mob wife who strayed or broke the rules. He also knew he’d need to bury his cock in the woman he loved after she told him her story of pain because he’d need to affirm that this beautiful, broken woman was still here with him. Still alive. And still in his keeping. He couldn’t seem to stop fucking her. It was like he needed affirmation that she wasn’t a ghost or some kind of figment of his imagination.

  He quickened his strides, his dick coming relentlessly to life as his brain thought only of branding himself all over Casey once more. And he couldn’t do that in a training field where one of his guys could come along. It was a poor excuse to have to remove their eyes. He was having a difficult enough time just knowing other people got to bask in her beauty when she was fully clothed, no fucking way any other motherfucker was going to see his woman naked.

  He wrenched the door open and placed a hand on her back, impatiently waiting for her eyes to adjust before she entered the building. He’d quickly noticed in his time with Casey, though she seemed to have perfect vision, except for colour-blindness, her night vision was terrible. She refused to enter a room before she could properly see inside. He’d made a note in his calendar to get her examined by an eye doctor, find out if her strange vision issues were from her head injuries or if they were just a part of her.

  The sauna was warm at that time of day from being well insulated, though it hadn’t been used yet. He waved his hand at a bench and she sat down glancing up at him warily. He nodded at her, “Tell me about the scar, Casey.”

  She licked her lips and gripped the edge of the bench, wiggling a little. Then she sighed and lifted her eyes, those beautiful multi-coloured eyes that had hooked him right from the start. He had to ruthlessly calm the blood that surged through his veins and remind himself to listen carefully.

  “Did Ignacio tell you much about me?” she asked. “B-before he died?”

  Reyes stiffened, his gaze turning to stone. “Watch your tongue, nena,” he said with seething intensity. “Same rules apply. You are not to speak that man’s name. In answer to your question, yes, I took the… opportunity to speak to him at length about you. Whether or not he spoke the truth in his final hours remains to be seen.”

  She glared u
p at him and he could see the internal struggle not to roll her eyes at him. She finally won the battle and dropped her gaze to the floor, choosing the self-preservation of her ass over sass. Good girl, he thought and bit back an approving grin. He knew he was often unreasonable where she was concerned. Acted more like an unpredictable caveman than a reasonable lover. He was struggling to find a balance with this equally unpredictable woman. And truth be told, he was loving every moment of their exhilarating journey together. If their present was any indication of their future, he couldn’t wait to spend a lifetime with her.

  Finally, she shook her hair back, tilted her chin and snapped, “We’re not in the damn house, Reyes, the don’t-say-your-dead-husband’s-name rule doesn’t apply out here.” She just couldn’t help herself.

  He stared down at her for a moment then roared in laughter, startling her. She let out a small laugh, joining him for a moment until they both calmed. They stopped and looked at each other still smiling, eyes shining in amusement. She took a breath and said, in typical Casey fashion, “He burned my hand as punishment because I tried to escape him.”

  Reyes nodded gently. “I figured that much. How did you try to escape, Casey? How did he catch you?”

  Her gorgeous eyes grew cloudy, but she bravely held his. “I tried to kill myself,” she whispered.

  Reyes felt as though he was being plunged into a pool of ice. His body froze. He felt as though his heart stopped in that moment and then her long-fingered hands with their prominent bones, too delicate, too pale, reached into his chest and tore out his heart while it was still stopped. He’d known she was damaged. Known she was too frail for his world. And if he’d been willing to listen to his own damn subconscious, had fucking known this was coming. Had fucking known the woman he’d fallen in love with was suicidal.