Beautiful Torment *Book One of the Beautiful series*

36) Found You

*High Sexual Content. Readers be advised*

Involuntarily, Lucy took a step back. This was not the dark prince she remembered. He was changed somehow, broken and made new. The fire within him roared brighter than she had ever seen it before, bordering on mania. Waves of grief rolled off of him, tinging the air with an acidic edge that burned against her skin.

He stepped forward, matching her retreat with even, lumbering strides.

"I am here and it is no thanks to you." His touch finally found her, warm and rough, he gripped both her arms and pulled her close so that she was mere inches from his chest.

She met his gaze with unflinching but reluctant eyes, both fear and need pooled into her, grappling for control over what would come next. "But the queen..." she snapped her mouth shut before the tail end of her sentence could spill out. If she told him the truth, he'd be framed as a murderer. The queen had promised his undoing.

At the brief mention of her, Alexander roared. The sound echoed through the trees, sending a flock of birds cawing into the morning sky. "My father is dead at the queen's hands." He pressed forward and Lucy stumbled back the best she could manage, trying desperately to maintain any amount of space between them. She needed the clarity that it had to offer because his nearness made her head a wanton mess. "Endon is in my home."

Dread pooled in the with other emotions at the mention of her supposed father. Her back met with the rough bark of the tree behind her and she leaned against it, staring up into Alexander's eyes. Understanding that his grief and anger were not solely by her hand. She thought of the king--that aged version of Alexander. The massive mountain of a man with a booming voice and arms thick as a bears. Dead? Could it be real? He was a dragon. A king. It did not seem possible.

Releasing her arms, the prince's hands slid down, gripping her waist almost frantically and lifting her so that she was pressed between his muscled torso and the twisted tree trunk. Her hands fumbled to his shoulders, forced to cling there to keep from toppling sideways. She opened her mouth, ready to ask what exactly had happened, but his lips smashed to hers with little warning. 

He demanded everything from her; kissing like it was their last day on earth together. One of his hands moved off her hip, sliding down her leg, pulling her skirt up, so he could slide his hand up her thigh, taking her undergarment with him. Once he was satisfied with his hand on her ass, supporting her, his other hand plunged into her hair, holding her to him when she tried to pull away.

Lucy broke their kiss, gasping in surprise at the fire his touch provoked. His lips moved willingly away from her mouth, traveling along her jawline to the hollow behind her ear. She panted, thoughts scrambling when she tried to organize them. It seemed an impossible task while the prince was continuing his ravenous assault. Her body moved at it's own command, tilting her head back to give him plenty of room as a small moan escaped her.

"Xander." The ache in her chest throbbed relentlessly. "We have to stop this." Though her mouth protested, her body resisted any move to refuse him. Desire was alive and wreathing inside of her. She pushed her chest against him as his teeth nipped her neck and his hands slithered along her bare thighs.

Thrusting his hips forward into her core, pinching her clit between her pubic bone and his raging erection. "Nothing will stop me from taking what is mine," he growled against her skin, pulling another involuntary moan from her. The hand under her, pulled out, long enough to grab the outside of her knickers and rip them from her, discarding the useless cloth off to the side. Returning it, his fingers sprayed out, pushing his middle finger into her already soaked hole