Alitus Vivaldi is a Better, an enhanced human. He moves from the Conqueror's favorite pleasure slave to her personal assistant by learning the key to her heart is passion, love, and loyalty. When political upheaval forces the Conqueror to strip her favorite of his freedom and rights, Alitus forsakes his identity and pride, surrendering himself to his darkest fears. But will what he becomes save the Tarthian Empire and its Conqueror, or rock them both to their crumbling core?
In this scene from Alitus, Tales of the Chosen, Empress Rheyn Destoiya and her assistant, Alitus Vivaldi have had a misunderstanding regarding a member of her Stable, a group of men she keeps to satisfy her raging sexual desires. Immortal, she is rarely able to find sexual fulfillment among mortals, except with her Chosen Alitus, whose pheromones can both excite and calm her.
"I owe you an apology, Alitus. I've asked far too m-much of you. You have every right to be f-furious with m-me." She averted her face and turned away. *I am the empress, for God's sake! I have to control myself.* Yet, facing his anger, she stammered like an awkward girl ending a bad first date. She clenched both fists. *Get hold of yourself!*
Behind her, she heard every ragged breath her lover took. Her own heart hammered. *Get it over with, Rheyn. Be the Conqueror.* She whirled to face him. "You've never withheld anything from me except your anger and I've taken every advantage I could. It's been all too easy for me to take you for granted. It was terrible of me to abuse you in such a way, Alitus. I only meant for Rudolf to fill in for you at my side when you had other things to do. He was to be a decoy. Nothing more. I--shouldn't have surprised you like that."
She'd allowed him to rage at her as if she were no more than his doxy, and all she could think to do was stoop and pick up her gloves. He, above all people, didn't deserve her anger. She drew the gloves across the palm of her hand.
"Alitus." She could not bring herself to make eye contact with him. "I--I'm sorry." She hurried toward the door.
"Rheyn!"
Brought up short by his use of her first name--an intimacy he rarely allowed himself--she turned back. By some trick of the light, his blond hair glowed, its paleness diffused further by her tears. Stripped of his usual jacket, his plain dress shirt shone like white fire.
She waited for him to say something further.
Arms out at his sides, Alitus stood there, his submissive stance echoing her own futility. He sank to his knees, one hand over his eyes.
Destoiya hastened back to his side and knelt, gathered him in her arms. "Oh, Alitus. My love. My love..." She pushed her fingers through his silken hair, cradling his head against her.
"Oh, God, Rheyn." He lifted his tear-stained face to hers, shaking his head, the bloody whites making his eyes a brilliant blue. Wetness turned his blond lashes into dark, spiky points. "I'm so sorry. Please, please, don't leave me."
"I couldn't leave you, Alitus. I could never leave you." She drew him close and pressed his head against her shoulder.
Day in and out she relied so heavily on this man it slipped her mind how much she truly loved him. He was all man, grown from that sweet, virgin youth she'd fallen in love with. Where had the years gone? Over like a quick snap of her fingers.
Alitus sucked in a deep breath, shuddering. "I had no right to be angry with you."
"Shh." She kissed his wet cheek, dried his tears with her fingers. "Of course, you did, love. I pushed you far too hard."
Too late, she felt the result of the pheromones in his tears. Comforting him brought her under the chemical spell of his pheromones as easily as if he'd released them into the room. Heat bloomed within her as if they'd spent hours in foreplay. Droplets of sweat formed on her brow and between her breasts. Her mouth went dry.
She clenched a fist across her stomach. "Alitus..."
He pulled back, confusion on his face. Guilt transformed it. "Oh, no. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean t..."
"It's all right," she whispered.
Every Sempervian bore a blessing and a curse--her curse doomed her to a torment of sexual desire few human men could ever extinguish alone. A nightmare of unquenchable lust that wracked her days and turned her nights into bouts of perversion and twisted sexual escapades. Anything to escape the fire burning within her. A keening fire that allowed her no dignity. No shame. No rest. And Alitus--one of the few who could soothe her maddening heat--could also spike it unbearably with a single touch.
She stood on shaky legs and staggered, caught in her long hem.
Alitus rose and swept her into his arms. "Let me love you, Rheyn. Let me give you peace."
She tilted back her head, accepting his kiss, arms wrapped around his neck. Hot blood thundered through her veins, scorching her inside. Used to commanding her lovers, submission did not come easy. In her heart she knew he needed to dominate her tonight, take her, prove to himself she was his. Knew he needed to take her in *his* bed. Not hers.
He entreated her with kisses and swept his tongue inside her mouth. She moaned into his, sucking at his tongue, opening wide to coax him inside. Destoiya mated with his mouth, his honeyed taste bringing to mind a sweet brandy. Intoxicating. Lush. Like him.
He nipped at her chin and throat.
A sob rose within her. Destoiya nestled against him as Alitus carried her from the room. His firm arms drew her in, held her fast against his muscled chest. His scent, a mix of apricot and peach when he was aroused, drifted to her. She inhaled, taking his pheromones deeper, deeper, right into her soul.
"I need you, Alitus. I want you inside me. Take me. Love me..."
"Yes, Rheyn. Yes. I love you." He kissed her, a wild coupling of mouth and tongue that left her breathless.
The simplicity of his bedroom--a big bed, a chair, bedside tables--underscored his elegance. The physical beauty of Alitus the Better fit here. The brocades and tapestries suited his golden hair, ocean-blue eyes and perfectly sculpted face. The heart of Alitus the Man wooed her, won her, whether they shared a palace or a hovel.
"Rheyn," he whispered her name as he set her on her feet beside the bed. "I love you. I will take care of you. Trust me."
He pulled down the golden brocade covers, baring the sheets. He knelt and wrapped one hand around her ankle.
"Put your hand on my shoulder." He steadied her as he helped her step from her shoes. Rising, he made short work of her dress's fasteners and let it fall to the floor.
She stood before him naked except for panties and necklace, the heat between her legs making her writhe. "I want you, Alitus. I need you so. Please, hurry..."
"I am, love." Using both hands, he peeled her panties down her legs, squatting to take them off her. "I'll take care of you. Satisfy you. I promise." The warmth of his breath against her mound made her shiver with anticipation.
He scooped her up and laid her gently on the bed. Its cool sheets against her heated skin soothed. Lying beside her fully dressed, he propped himself up to gaze down at her. Alitus took her chin in one hand and tilted her face to his as he bent for a lingering kiss that made her arch against him.
The rapture in his tender touch inflamed her. Alitus was desire embodied in a male form that had been designed for beauty and created for exquisite pleasure. Destoiya intended to plunder his passion until she had her fill of him. She spread her legs wide, inviting him without a word.
"You are so beautiful, Rheyn." His golden lashes lowered as he took in her body. He slid his fingers between her labia and stroked her, making her arch and cry out. The stark blue of his eyes against their reddened whites spoke of his control, his insistence on caring for her first.
Even in heat like an animal, she recognized his concern for her. She closed her thighs around his hand. "Now, Alitus. Now. Don't make me wait, please!"
She left him no time to respond, but devoured him with kisses born of desperate hunger, wrapping her legs along the length of his. She pulled him atop her and reached between them to free his cock. "Take me, Alitus. Make me yours. Put your scent all over me."
He angled himself above her and put his shaft at the mouth of her pussy. "How many times do you want me to take you, Rheyn?"
"All night, love. All night." She gripped his collar. "Use me. Do me. Get inside me and make me beg."
He rammed into her up to the hilt and stayed there, pressed against her mound. The fullness of him inside her made her groan, greedy for more. His shaft opened her wide. He rocked her, rubbed himself back and forth inside her, pressed against her clit and opened her lips.
She rolled her head from side to side, so lost in passion she could not form words to think. Her lust for Alitus left her unguarded, vulnerable and open. Utter trust in him made her secure.
Alitus slipped an arm beneath one of her thighs as he pulled out, only to slam back in hard enough to make her scream.
"Yes, that's it, love." He rocked into her again. "There's no one here to interrupt us. Scream as loud as you want."
Destoiya braced her arms against the head of the bed and pushed up against him as he slammed into her once more. Her throaty cries erupted as an orgasm shuddered over her. Her ravenous desire demanded more. "Fuck me, Alitus. Take me. Please, please take me. Take me."
"That's right, Rheyn. Cry. Beg." He put his mouth next to her ear. "Who makes you come all night? Who makes you beg?"
"You. You. Only you." She twisted her hands in his hair and yanked his mouth to hers in a wolfish kiss.
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