All The Queen's Men

By Celeste Hall

A paranormal erotic romance novel. Meet the supernatural masters of passion and seduction, feeding upon the erotic dreams and pleasure of humankind.

Syrena is a young succubus who was raised by humans from a very early age. She has no memory of her birth parents. She doesn’t know what she is, and she lacks much of the education a succubus would gain from her mother. Her ignorance leads her into danger, when an alluring scent draws her to a military facility... and into a trap.
Max is one of only a handful of soldier with the top secret clearance to guard Syrena’s cell, but finds the succubus fascinating and cannot understand why she is being treated like a national threat. He finds himself drawn into her cell, and into her arms, sealing both of their fates.
He is determined to free his lover, and the other supernatural creatures being held within those endless cement corridors. He even recruits two trustworthy friends to help him. But not all of the prisoners are as friendly as Syrena and the incubi. They’re about to find themselves caught up in a bloody battle between humans and demons.

Please note: This book is intended for readers 18 years and older, there is strong language and explicit sexual encounters. As the legends propose, both incubus and succubus demons feed upon sexual energy stolen from sleeping humans. While this might suggest questionable consent, they are actually very generous and considerate lovers.
Celeste Hall's Seduction series:
#1 Ethan (now FREE!)
#2 Kye
#3 Rico
#4 Gavin
#5 All The Queen's Men
#6 The Brothers Sin
The Seduction Series Boxed set: The first five erotic stories in one collection!

An erotic tale featuring: Incubus, Succubus, Sex demon, Demon lover, Supernatural lover, Multiple partners, Menage, Alpha Male, Demon mate, Incubus hunter, Romantic adventure, Romantic suspense

• Language: English
• Publisher: Celeste Hall
• Release date: Apr 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310164507

Celeste Hall

Celeste Hall is a passionate writer of paranormal and erotic romance with over twenty-five titles to her credit, including Beware of Wolves, the Kitty Coven series, and her ultra-sexy Seduction series. If you're looking for a sizzling escape from the pressures of a long day, her alpha hero incubi will make you purr.Celeste believes that a great book can do more than offer an afternoon's pleasure, it can change your life. She is absolutely addicted to happy endings. Her favorite stories will often include elements of the paranormal or fantastical, but they will always have a romantic heart.When not writing, Celeste enjoys traveling and spending time outdoors. She also enjoys photography, graphic design, a variety of artistic mediums, gardening, horseback riding and geeking out online - especially on Facebook.You can find a full list of her books by visiting: CelesteHall.com.

Book preview

ALL THE QUEEN’S MEN

Seduction Series, book #5

By Celeste Hall

Be careful what you dream…

Syrena was raised by a police man and his wife after she was found wandering the Nevada desert alone as a very young child. That unique bond to the human species nearly destroys her after she reaches maturity and instinctively begins to seek out a mate.

All the Queen’s Men

Seduction Series, book #5

Copyright © 2014 by Celeste Hall

Smashwords Edition

All Rights Reserved

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.

This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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

This book is for sale to ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which may be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

All sexually active characters in this book are 18 years of age or older.

Additional titles by Celeste Hall

~ Novels and Novellas ~

Fealty

Lady Silence

Prison of Dreams

Simple Musings

His Pale Prisoner

Error: Please Try Again

Secret Admirer

~ Seduction Series Books ~

Ethan

Kye

Rico

Gavin

All the Queen’s Men

~ Short stories and Anthologies ~

The Inventor’s Throne

A Touch of Irish

Their First Time

Creatures of the Night

Vampyren are born of Lilith and sired by a demon. Offspring were corrupted by the demon’s blood, which carries the taint of hell and continues to infect any creature unfortunate enough to come into contact with it. They are grouped by covens - like witches.

Lilin are born of Lilith and sired by an angel. They are grouped by coveys - like quail. The female are succubi. The males are incubi. Incubi outnumber succubi nine to one, it is an evolutionary flaw developed by the need for numerous males to protect a single female when she is of breeding age, similar to bees protecting their hive queen.

Lycan are born of women and sired by Cain after the curse was placed upon him. They are creatures with heightened emotional states, capable of extreme violence as well as extreme devotion. They are grouped by packs - like wolves.

Chapter One

Bands of tension drew his brows together and made his breathing sound just that much louder in the tomb like silence of the laboratory as Max looked back up at the monitors before him. The screens revealed every inch of the cold and sterile cement chamber he had been placed here to guard. The room where his prisoner now sat huddled in one corner.

He’d long considered himself a born soldier, but this assignment was like nothing he’d ever imagined. Weren’t they supposed to be protecting the helpless and defending the innocent?

Here he was, deep in the bowels of a secret facility with a machine gun and a kill button at his fingertips. Only he wasn’t the warden of some bloodthirsty war criminal or freedom hating terrorist.

The prisoner inside that room was young, frightened and naked…and female.

She was staring at the door with the piteous look of a woman that expected death to come for her at any moment. Which it might, Max knew. But for all the wrong reasons, two of which were now wrapped soothingly around her body, leaving only a crown of golden curls and expressive lilac blue eyes exposed.

Wings. She had two massive, black, leathery wings that could most easily be described as bat-like in appearance. He’d never seen anything like her before, but she didn’t look dangerous. She looked terrified and broken, while he sat here with a fully automatic weapon and the firm instructions to gas the chamber if she made any sudden movements.

As if she could possibly escape!

The walls were at least three feet thick, with another hundred feet of dirt between the ceiling and the surface of the earth above. The door to the chamber was made of solid steel, with a secondary room, and then another thick steel door before she could enter the wide and brightly lit tunnels that connected this underground maze of cells and chambers into one enormous hive.

His superiors were treating the girl as if she was dangerous or contagious and he couldn’t understand why. She was amazing! Easily the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen… if you could overlook those wings.

Maybe it was his childhood fascination with superheroes and comic books, but he thought they should be attempting to recruit the girl, rather than treating her as a potentially homicidal monster.

Max glanced down at the log of visitors his prisoner had received so far. There was a lot of brass on that list, but that could be expected at a top secret military facility such as this one.

Looking up, he was startled to find his charge staring directly into the primary camera. Her face framed in perfect detail on the monitor just before him. It was almost as if she were looking right at him, right into his eyes. That was impossible of course, but her deep and penetrative gaze was almost unsettling.

He’d only been on this security detail for a few days and he’d never seen her do anything more than huddle in her corner and stare at the door.

As he watched, her wings lowered slightly and she raised one delicate hand to touch her throat. Instantly his heart sped up. That wasn’t just a careless gesture. She was trying to communicate with him.

Max had been strictly instructed to never open the security doors, but there was no water left in the plastic jug that sat on floor just inside the chamber. He’d also never seen her offered food.

How long had she been a prisoner before his arrival?

A quick check of the logs showed the records went back at least a couple of months, but that only meant that she’d been in this particular cell for that period of time. For all he knew she could have been moved in here after a much longer stay somewhere else in the hive.

No cross documentation had been provided for Max or her other guardians, as they were considered nothing more than babysitters for whatever experimentations were being conducted here.

Hell, he really didn’t even know what sort of facility this was, or what other fascinating creatures might be held in the very next room. Everything was labeled top secret and for the eyes of select individuals only.

He glanced back up at the monitors and found that the girl was still watching the camera. As he stared at her, he saw a single tear slide down one cheek.

Fuck.

He couldn’t just let her suffer in there because some asshole forgot to refill her water canister.

Max used his considerable computer skills to pull up some of the corridor cameras, checking to assure himself that the rest of facility was quiet as a graveyard and that he was unlikely to be caught in his folly.

He could get fired for this…or worse.

There was a fridge in the snack room down the hall, but he wasn’t supposed to leave his post until another soldier showed up to relieve him. He’d been instructed to phone down to the main entry and have a guard sent up if he needed to use the restroom or take a break from his post.

He’d also been instructed to bring a shelf stable meal and a drink with him to avoid that necessity, and the main entry guards had proven to be quite unfriendly during the graveyard shifts that Max worked.

The girl would have to make due with the diet cola he’d brought in for himself.

Max took another quick look at all the monitors, before grabbing the half empty liter of soda and jogging around the corner to the first set of heavy duty quarantine doors.

He typed in the security code, knowing he’d have to hack it back out of the system later to hide his tracks.

If his superiors knew what kind of a computer geek he was, and how much he could do with only a few minutes of access to their mainframe, he was certain he’d have been trapped behind an entirely different desk somewhere. But he didn’t count his good fortune just yet.

The first door slid open with a soft swish of air. He stepped into the holding room and had waited for the door to close again behind him.

White environmental suits hung on the walls, but he’d never seen anyone use them before, and if there’d been any risk he was sure they would have.

His hand shook a little bit as he typed his security code into the second door’s system. He was either about to get his ass handed to him by a monster, or he was going to finally meet the girl he’d been fantasizing about since the moment he’d first seen her.

He leveled his rifle at waist height as the door slid open, giving him access to the sterile chamber beyond.

Her eyes met his instantly, but she remained huddled in her corner. She’d been punished often enough to learn that it was better for her to simply remain still when her keepers were nearby. It made him sick to think about what sort of tortures she must still be enduring.

This is all that I have, he admitted, placing the half bottle of diet cola on the floor near the empty water jug. I’m not even allowed to give you this, so you’ll have to drink it quickly and give the empty container back before my shift ends.

He hesitated, not really wanting to leave yet, but aware that she was afraid to move while he was present. For a moment they only studied each other, forming silent opinions and suspicions.

When she continued to remain cautiously huddled in her corner, Max at last took a step back towards the door. He had to fight down the self-loathing that was attempting to swallow him. It twisted his gut to see such fear in the eyes of someone so helpless. It made him feel like the monster here.

You wear the same uniform, but you’re not like the others.

The soft whisper of her voice effectively rooted him to the floor. He’d never heard her speak. In fact, he hadn’t been entirely sure if she could speak. He turned to find her still seated in her corner, but the rigid defensive barrier of her wings appeared to have lowered slightly.

His lips twitched with indecision. He instinctively wanted to drop to one knee, to bring himself down to eye level with her in an effort to help her relax, yet a small cynical part of him warned that looks could be deceiving.

My name’s Max.

To his dismay, the words were laced with an unusually harsh blend of frustration and self doubt. He tried offering a smile to soften them, but it felt just as unnatural, so he simply dropped his gaze and sighed.

Are you going to kill me, Max?

Her words were still hardly more than a delicate whisper, yet they struck him with the force of a bullet, jolting him full of stunned horror.

No! I mean, of course not. Why would you ask that?

She looked around at the white washed cement walls and floor before drawing her wings a little tighter about her body.

I think I’m going to die in here.

Max could no longer resist the need to crouch, resting the gun against one knee, but