Claimed by Pleasure: King of Spades (Wonderland Book 2) Read online

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CLAIMED BY PLEASURE

  BEGINNINGS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  EPILOGUE

  Stranded

  Excerpt…Hidden Prey

  About Jaymie Holland

  Cheyenne writing as Jaymie Holland

  Also by Cheyenne McCray

  CLAIMED BY PLEASURE

  Wonderland Series:

  KING OF SPADES

  Jaymie Holland

  WONDERLAND SERIES: King of Spades - Claimed by Pleasure

  Copyright © 2015 Jaymie Holland

  All rights reserved. No part of this eBook may be reproduced in whole or in part, scanned, photocopied, recorded, distributed in any printed or electronic form, or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without express written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  Published by Pink Zebra Publishing.

  Formatting by Bella Media Management.

  Cover by Scott Carpenter at www.pandngraphics.com

  e-book ISBN: 978-1-939778-68-0

  BEGINNINGS

  DEAR READER,

  The Wonderland series is back and Claimed by Pleasure: King of Spades has been expanded by TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT with never-before published material. That’s the equivalent of over FIFTY PAGES of new and expanded scenes!

  I have more great news for Wonderland fans! As countless readers have requested, a new fifth book will be coming soon in the series, entitled Owned by Fire.

  St. Martin’s Press published Claimed by Pleasure in trade paperback only, under the pseudonym Jaymie Holland. Ellora’s Cave published the series primarily in e-format, this second book as King of Spades under the name Cheyenne McCray.

  Claimed by Pleasure, under the title Wonderland: King of Spades, won the Golden Quill Award and was given multiple rave reviews, including a 4-star review from RT Book Reviews.

  I hope you enjoy Claimed by Pleasure and enjoy your journey through the looking glass, a door of new discovery.

  Cheyenne McCray

  aka Jaymie Holland

  CHAPTER ONE

  USING HIS MAGIC, KING DARRONN SHOVED open the doors and strode onto the private balcony of his chateau, his boot steps heavy thuds against the granite flooring. With a scowl he flexed his chest beneath his leather tunic, then braced his hands on the low balcony wall while he viewed his realm nestled in the great Tarok Mountains.

  Smoke wisped from cabin chimneys in the village, the acrid scent mingling with damp forest smells of wet leaves, loam, and pine. Blue-green mist crept close to the ground and swirled around the feet of the villagers going about their daily duties. He leaned against the railing and watched a spotted anlia buck and his doe slip through the forest mist until he could no longer see the pair and could only scent them with his keen weretiger senses.

  Ravenwood flowers perfumed the air from where they spilled down the wooden trellis from his balcony to the ground. The purple blooms fluttered in the wind and loose petals swirled away with the breeze.

  A fierce growl rumbled within him, the sound lost in the thunder of the nearby falls. One day he might again experience pleasure at the sight of his splendid kingdom.

  When I no longer fear for my subjects and their collective futures. When children once again scamper through the meadows and their voices ring over the hillsides.

  Cool wind swept off the waterfall, over his face and bare arms, and lifted his long hair away from his shoulders. The falls tumbled from the range’s uppermost reaches to well below the Kingdom of Spades and the mountain village, and fed into the Tarok River. The invigorating wind cleared his senses and prepared him for the step he must now take for his people.

  With the birth of werecub twins to the High King and Queen months ago, great joy spread throughout all of Tarok. When Queen Alice had conceived last spring, new hope had blossomed within the four kingdoms that Mikaela of Malachad’s black reign of sorcery had come to an end. The hope had been that breaking her mind-spells and bringing forth new life would allow all the women of Tarok to again be fertile.

  Yet no other children had been conceived in the spring in any of the Tarok Kingdoms. And of course no other were born in the fall.

  At the thought of his newborn niece and nephew, a surge of pride seized Darronn’s chest and he gripped the railing tighter. The babes were healthy and growing quickly, as weretigers should. The girl had been named Lexi, after the High Queen’s sister who was somewhere on Earth, and the boy was Lancelot, a name Queen Alice fancied from her world.

  Odd names, both, but they suited the children. The twins were into everything they could get their tiny hands on, much to the excitement of their mother, the consternation of their father, and the amusement of their three doting uncles.

  On his last visit just a week ago, Darronn had clenched his jaw in frustration at the sight of the small army of guards his brother Jarronn was forced to keep around his children and mate when he was not with them.

  The cubs should only know the freedom of living in a Tarok Kingdom, he thought, not cages of any kind.

  Over a long, brutal, and bloody summer, the four Kingdoms of Tarok had gone into battle with Mikaela’s warriors and had dealt Malachad a devastating blow. Her warriors had retreated to lick their wounds, and the Kings of Tarok knew it was only a matter of time before they would go to battle once again. Now, months later, Mikaela had reasserted her menace. Her mind-powers were too great to discount and her bakirs, her legion of psychics, had regrouped and had recently begun mental attacks anew on the High King’s court.

  The bitch. Darronn bit back a snarl. Mikaela’s betrayal of the Tarok clan had ripped at his soul, a jagged, poisonous wound that had eaten away at his heart since the moment he learned of her treachery. At one time he believed himself to be close to his younger sister, more so than his three brothers…but she had used him.

  He tossed back his head and this time a savage roar ripped from his throat. The cry echoed throughout the mountainside kingdom. A cry of power and of the cunning he would use to aid Tarok in defeating the bitch. And a cry of powerlessness raging through his soul, because his people had gone nearly two decades with no conceptions, no births.

  Mikaela sought revenge for being slighted when their parents split the larger Tarok Kingdom into four lesser kingdoms, and had bequeathed all to their four sons and nothing to their daughter. Why their parents had changed the inheritance at the last moment, the brothers did not understand. Mikaela was to have received a portion of what was now the Kingdom of Hearts.

  Before Mikaela had left to mate with King Balin of Malachad Kingdom, she had often told Darronn he should be angered that his twin Jarronn had been made ruler over Tarok when he was but hours older than Darronn.

&n
bsp; “You should be High King,” she had said many times in the sweet voice she always used with him.

  But he had simply responded, “Their choice was as it should be. Jarronn is far better suited to rule all of Tarok than I, and he is the eldest.”

  Darronn recalled the flicker of darkness in Mikaela’s eyes. He should have known then, but his love for his younger sister had blinded him to her treachery.

  “Master, it is time.” Kalina’s melodic voice floated over the roar of the waterfall, interrupting his dark thoughts.

  With a frown, he turned to see the sorceress standing in the doorway to his chambers, her head bowed as she waited for his instruction. Having served the High King in the Kingdom of Hearts for over a decade, Kalina was well trained in her submissive role, and obviously relished it.

  “Wait for me in my chambers,” he commanded.

  The sorceress bowed, and disappeared back through the doorway.

  After one last look at his realm, Darronn strode across the balcony into his quarters, and closed the doors behind him. A fire burned in the hearth, taking the chill from the room. Kalina stood beside the glowing a’bin, the magical table she had transported with her when she recently joined him in the Kingdom of Spades.

  Kalina’s head remained bowed, her hands behind her back and her feet positioned well apart so that he might reach for her lusciousness beneath her scant black leather trappings. Unlike the Kingdom of Hearts, where most women wore almost nothing at all, Darronn preferred his women to wear leather. Kalina’s dress had two thin straps crisscrossing her breasts and exposing her berry-dark nipples. Her belly and back were bare, but the bottom half covered her tiny ass and her bare mound. Still it was short enough to tease him with tantalizing views when she moved or bent over. Darronn’s black and gold collar of ownership encircled her throat and from each of her recently pierced nipples swung a single gold spade charm.

  Kalina wet her lips with her tongue, and he knew that she wished for his cock. “What is your pleasure, Master?”

  The room was warm from the fire burning in the hearth, vanquishing the chill from the balcony. At the sight of the lusty sorceress, a slight sheen of sweat coated Darronn’s powerful body, his erection growing. A feral purr rose up within him at the smell of Kalina’s desire. He felt sorry for his brother Jarronn, who now only had one woman for his pleasure. Once Alice had come to Tarok, Jarronn would have no other. Despite his brother’s obvious devotion and love for his mate, Darronn could never imagine that only pleasuring one woman would be enough for him.

  Darronn did not at all mind the fact that as second born and heir-designate he inherited Kalina and would inherit anything else Jarronn released until Lance and Lexi were much older.

  Darronn moved to the glowing a’bin table, where the sorceress stood, and turned his gaze to the three cards. It did not please him that he was forced to select his queen from a mere card, as his brother had. True, Jarronn’s mate had been well chosen, and Darronn had certainly enjoyed mind-bonding with the High Queen.

  Kalina’s well-oiled body gleamed in the candlelight and she flicked her tongue along her red lips. “You must choose, Master.”

  “I did not ask your advice, wench.” Darronn’s muscles flexed as he caught Kalina’s chin and forced the sorceress to look up at him. “Perhaps punishment is in order. Maybe I should use my strap against your backside.”

  “If it pleases you, Master.” Kalina’s fire-ice eyes flared and the scent of her arousal grew stronger. “But first, you must choose.”

  Darronn’s rumbling growl would have been enough to make any other of his subjects flinch, but not the sorceress. “Kneel,” he commanded.

  Kalina gracefully obeyed, lowering her eyes and holding her hands behind her back as she knelt. The gold spades along her collar glittered in the candlelight and the gold baubles at her nipples swung faster with the intensity of her motions.

  While Kalina knelt before him, Darronn held his hand over the a’bin, and moved his palm above the three cards. At once the middle card glowed and a tiger emblem sparkled at its center. The rush of power that shot through Darronn bolted straight to his cock, making his erection tenser than ever.

  Without hesitating, Darronn scooped up the card and flipped it over in his palm, and he nearly climaxed from the desire that rushed through him.

  Thick reddish-brown hair framed a beautiful face with lips made to kiss; full breasts created for him to suck; and long legs to slide between when he thrust deep inside her. The woman’s aqua eyes seemed familiar to him, much like Queen Alice’s. But the woman’s Tarok-sky gaze held fire and challenge, and Darronn knew she would not be easy to tame.

  All the better. He tired of how easily wenches crawled into his bed. He craved a challenge, and he would have the redheaded woman begging for his cock even without his tigri pheromones.

  With his magic he sent the card to his library for safekeeping.

  Suddenly pleased, he turned to the sorceress. “You have done well, Kalina.”

  “I had naught to do with the choice the cards made.” Kalina allowed her gaze to meet his. “Destiny has chosen this woman for you.”

  Darronn gave a slow nod. “And I shall have her.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  WITH A SCOWL FIERCE ENOUGH TO SEND any guy in the bar diving for cover, Alexi O’Brien grabbed her bottled beer and chugged the contents. The icy, bitter fluid rolled down her throat, settling in a cold burn in her empty stomach. Hell, she ought to get a good buzz, and fast. She’d never been one for drinking, but today she needed something to dull the pain and anger she knew would never go away. Not unless—until—she found Alice.

  Annie, their conservative cousin, frowned as Alexi slammed the bottle onto the rich mahogany bar and signaled the bartender for another round. Alexi cocked her head and studied her favorite cousin and best friend. Alexi knew that her cousin only needed her half-glasses for reading or painting. But, like Annie’s plain-Jane clothing and her ever-present severe hairdo, the reading glasses were a way of hiding her true self from the world. If she’d just ditch the glasses, get a sexy wardrobe, and let her hair down, Annie would be absolutely stunning.

  “Getting plastered isn’t going to bring her back,” Annie said in the soft southern accent she still had despite the fact she’d been living in San Francisco for over ten years. Although, if she was pissed, that southern accent got sharp in a hurry. She pushed her pewter-framed glasses up to the bridge of her nose then toyed with the straw in her sweet iced tea. “Alice wouldn’t want you to be miserable, sugar. You know that.”

  Alexi raked her fingers through her wild auburn locks as the bartender placed another bottle in front of her. His appreciative gaze lingered on her slim form, trailing from her generous cleavage to the gold tiger charm dangling from the piercing at her belly button, and down to her tiny skirt.

  “Don’t drink those too fast,” he said in a deep voice that made her nipples tighten against the flimsy material of her blouse. “You might do something you’ll regret later, sweetheart.”

  “Oh, really?” Alexi studied him in a blatant perusal from his blue eyes on down. The guy was dark haired, muscular, and hot, as she usually liked her men, and she could almost imagine letting him tie her up while he slid into her. Would he be man enough? Damn, she hadn’t thought about her bondage fantasy in a long while.

  Her gaze slid over the bartender’s snug black T-shirt to the hard-on pressing against his jeans as she thought of wild and wicked sex with him. Yeah, no doubt he’d give her a good ride. She bet he’d even enjoy participating in one of her favorite fantasies, the one where she was a French maid being erotically punished by her employer.

  Alexi used to fuck ’em and leave ’em all the time because she didn’t believe in long-term relationships or happily-ever-afters. But since Alice’s disappearance, Alexi just didn’t have it in her to flirt or have sex. The only reason she’d dressed this way tonight was because Annie had practically dared her, and Alexi never backed down from a c
hallenge.

  “If I get drunk enough, I might even find you attractive,” she said to him with a sugar-sweet smile, and the bartender gave a good-natured grin. Alexi dismissed him with a little flick of her fingers and then crossed one leg over the other. Her skirt slid up, exposing a good inch of flesh above her thigh-high stockings.

  Annie rolled her brown-sugar-colored eyes. “I can’t believe you let that one go.”

  But this past year, Alexi always let them go. She couldn’t enjoy herself without knowing that Alice was okay.

  “Why did she vanish the way she did?” Alexi rubbed one of her gold bracelets, a habit she’d taken up when her twin disappeared—Alice used to rub her woven bracelet all the time.

  Alexi continued as she shook her head. “One year ago today. A year, Annie. I just can’t believe it.”

  “You’ve got to get on with your life.” With her index finger, Annie pushed her glasses back up her nose. “You’ve done everything from mounting a well-publicized missing-persons campaign to hiring every private investigator in the city. You’ve almost exhausted your resources and your law practice is suffering. Soon you won’t be able to afford to eat, much less search for Alice.”

  With a slow shake of her head, Alexi fixed her gaze on the beer bottle and picked at the label as that familiar sadness settled all around her like piles of legal briefs. “No real clues. Alice’s purse and jacket scattered on the park bench, along with her cell phone. Even her shoes were left in the grass.”

  Alexi’s brows narrowed as she remembered that day so clearly. While driving to the park on her Harley, moments after talking to Alice on her cell phone, Alexi had just known something had gone wrong. The link she’d had with her twin since birth had been severed as cleanly as if it had never existed. It was like there was a hole now where her sister should be…like a paper doll that had been cut out of a book and lost.

  Alexi had arrived at the park, frantic, only to find no signs of Alice other than the items she’d left behind.