“Fuck.”
I groaned, cupping her jaw, resting my fingers under her chin as she sucked and pleasured me with such intense yet gentle ferocity I could’ve cried. Her nails dragged low to my pubic bone, prompting me to move. I could keep still no longer. Pumping past her lips with shallow strokes to be sure she could take me, I fucked her pretty mouth. She moaned, humming as she bobbed faster, urging me on.
I didn’t want it to end. It felt so fucking good. But her tempo was too perfect. Her mouth too soft and wet. Her suction too divine. I hadn’t planned to come in her mouth, but there was no force in heaven or hell that could pull me away from her. Especially not when she trailed those nails down my inner thigh and cupped my sac with a firm squeeze.
“Bloody hell.”
I dropped my head back, my vision blurring, black spots filling my periphery, as I came hard in her mouth. Did she jerk away and let me finish on the floor? No. Not my goddess. She moaned with pleasure, licking, sucking, and swallowing all of me.
My arms hung at my sides as I shook my head, breathing her name like a desperate prayer. “Carowyn, Carowyn, Carowyn.”
She carefully placed my cock back in my trousers—thankfully, for the poor guy was in shock—tucked in my shirt, and zipped up my pants. Good thing, because I wasn’t sure my fingers even worked anymore. I couldn’t move. I sure as fuck knew my brain had stopped working, completely hazed and melted from coming so hard. I think I might’ve expelled some brain cells in the act, for I couldn’t form a coherent thought as she crawled up my body, pressed her chest to mine and whispered in my ear, “That was for the pool table.”
She slipped on her gloves, smiling like the wicked demoness she was before she grabbed my hand and led me through the crowd toward an exit on the far side.
“What?” I finally asked, my processing still sluggish. She may have broken my brain.
Then she squeezed my hand and tossed a stunning smile over her shoulder, and my heart stopped. Seems she wanted to break that, too. So beautiful. She was so beautiful.
“An eye for an eye, hunter.” She winked.
“Eye for an eye?” I repeated as we rounded the last sexcapade.
She laughed, leading me toward the exit, no henchmen in sight.
Oh. So that’s the game we were playing. Who could make the other one come the hardest? I liked this game. But first, we had to get out of this bloody castle alive.
Chapter Eighteen
Bone
I’d pleasured many men over the ages, but never had I experienced the clawing need I had with Xander moments earlier. I’d teased him about it being payback, but the truth was I couldn’t stop myself if I’d wanted to. I’d damn near ripped his zipper to get his pants off, cautioning myself to be careful because I certainly didn’t want to harm his manly bits. But the need to know him in the most intimate of ways drove me like a train right off the cliff. This was only step one. I was ready for step two…and ten.
I tugged him into the main hall leading toward the exit, the menagerie of guests draped over and on top of each other in the niches displaying whatever fetish had lured them there. Before I made it a step beyond the orgy-fest, Xander draped his jacket over my shoulders. I’d nearly forgotten about my exposed tattoos—a dead giveaway to anyone who’d met me before. And I saw many familiar faces mingling among the crowd, most of them the guards who’d bought weapons from my shop over the decades.
Xander slipped his arm firmly around my waist, pulling me to his side as we sauntered like any amorous couple toward the exit, having our fill of the party. George and Kat leaned against the third pillar from the door, partly in shadow, kissing each other, George’s hand splayed across her bare thigh peeking out of the high slit in her dress. As we drew closer, Kat’s attention flicked to us then back to George. They’d been “watching” for us at the door while blending in.
Xander leaned down close to my ear, nuzzling against my neck as if distracted as we passed the two guards at the door. I smiled and bit my lip to stifle the full-on moan from escaping. My pretense at being his lust-drunk lover was no pretense at all. My thoughts scattered like bees from a dropped hive. I should have been alert and listening for trouble, watching for danger in the shape of a red priest or hellhound, but Xander’s mouth was on my skin, and I could hardly contain the desire lighting me up like a bonfire. I clutched at his hip, my arm wrapped low on his back.
We crossed the threshold, the lilting laughter of Kat not far behind as she and George exited close after us.
“Keep moving, beautiful.” Xander flicked his tongue against my earlobe. I jumped. “Almost there.”
“I can’t think when you’re—”
“Oh, Bone.” The rumble-dark voice I knew far too well jolted me to a stop. The owner of the voice was directly behind us.
Xander spun, knocking his bull’s mask to the ground and gripping daggers in both hands, white-knuckled. I turned slowly, showing no threat to Rook. It would only speed this up. He liked to talk. He liked to taunt. It might be enough to get us out of here. I put a hand on Xander’s forearm.
“Sweetheart.” Rook had unmasked himself as well and was shaking his head with displeasure. His flawlessly handsome, yet devilish, features framed by his sleek ebony hair, his perfect body dressed in a black tuxedo, gave him the appearance of a Hollywood playboy on the red carpet. But his tilted smile meant nothing next to the danger and fury sparking in his eyes. “This is so disappointing.”
I was afraid. Truly afraid. A slide of my gaze to Xander showed he didn’t appear to be so at all. As a matter of fact, he just looked ready to kill, like killing demon princes was an easy thing. It was almost impossible. Skating my gaze over Xander’s strikingly masculine, yet beautiful, profile sent my pulse pounding far too fast. It was him I was afraid for. Especially when Rook zeroed in on him with a sharp expression full of frightening malice.
A dozen red priests moved soundlessly into a circle around us. George and Kat hovered near a growing crowd outside the entrance on the gravel drive. The growling barks of hellhounds drew nearer. I glanced over my shoulder. Two guards walked closer, the hounds straining against the leashes they held, their red eyes narrowed and glowing in the dark—both the demons and the hounds.
“I never thought you’d betray me,” said Rook, finally swiveling his attention back to me.
Lifting my chin, I replied, “I never thought you’d use me to create a weapon for assassination.”
The red priests hissed, and Rook snapped his head back and forth. Simian took that moment to stroll in, bouncing on the balls of his feet like a child and stopping next to his brother. He laughed and clapped his hands together.
“Well, now. Seems our Bone has been a naughty girl.” Simian whispered loudly to Rook. “You should punish her, brother.”
“Oh, I plan to.”
A sharp prickle of fear raised the gooseflesh on my arms. I’d seen the kind of punishment he could inflict.
“You won’t fucking touch her.”
I didn’t even recognize Xander’s voice at first. I’d heard him speak with every nuance of inflection—charm, sensuality, reverence, anger, arousal. But never…never had I heard the hostile menace with the promise of pain that I did just now.
“A demon hunter, Bone?” Rook spoke to me but kept his sinister glare on Xander. “The ultimate betrayal,” he murmured, his black-clawed fingers tightening into fists.
That was my cue. With a swift flick of my arm, Xander’s jacket fell from my shoulders as I plucked the finger-length dagger from its sheath in my hair and shot it straight toward Rook’s throat with the whispered word, “Descendentes.”
A sharp gasp and slight jerk of his head sent the dagger sailing beyond him into one of his priests who fell, screeching and clawing at his throat. I’d laced these with triple the amount of ether I’d normally used. The priest suddenly exploded into cinders and ash, its foul soul going to the underworld where I’d sent it. Yes. I, Bone the Demoness, had sent Rook’s pet back to hell
where it belonged.
Rook’s expression hardened into a dark mask. Then chaos erupted. George and Kat sliced through four priests, decapitating them with two pivotal moves as they set upon the others. Xander was already charging Rook, and Simian had turned on George. A sharp crack of lightning announced the class of heavenly and demonic hosts in battle.
And I stood on the side of heaven. It was a remarkable moment. I stood still for mere seconds, but it seemed time slowed to an infinitesimal tempo.
The two guards unleashed the hounds, whose gnashing teeth and giant claws could disembowel any one of us. I pulled the dagger from my thigh scabbard and spun to deflect the priest launching himself at me from behind. He jabbed toward my abdomen, baring razor-like black teeth. I leaped and spun away, his blade tearing through my gown. A piece of it hit the ground before my feet did.
Grunts and cries, guests screaming, steel clanging, and hounds barking had all clashed into the din of battle, when a sudden and colossal explosion vibrated the earth. The blast wave knocked us to the ground like a giant had swatted us down. I fell backward, watching the mushroom fireball expand up into the gloom beyond the castle. The hounds who’d been trying their damnedest to maul Xander and George took off toward the melee. Guests spilled from the castle, all running for the gate where they could safely sift away. Xander had three priests still shrieking and attacking while he fought from on his back.
I leveraged to sit up, but I found my wrists pinned brutally in a single hand, a knee on my stomach, and a brutal grip of my jaw from the underside of my chin.
Rook glared down with a venomous stare, his eyes full black, the dark veins spiderwebbing across his cheeks, brow, and neck as his inner darkness swelled to the surface of his skin.
“You wicked, wicked bitch.” He whispered as he would to the most intimate of lovers. “You’re going to make that fucking collar as I commanded.” He leaned closer, lifting my face, digging his fingers into my jaw. “You’re going to obey me, Bone.” His lips—now black with the putrid evil welling up inside him—brushed against mine as he made me a promise. “I’ll make you hurt for your betrayal, my sweet. But I’ll make it all better when I’m done.”
Then I was flying through the air because someone had ripped him off me, and the demon prince hadn’t let go of my wrists until we were both airborne. Xander charged Rook, who landed on his feet twenty feet away, but then George grabbed him, and Kat grabbed me by the arm.
“Run!” bellowed George.
And we did, all of us launching toward the gate, mixing into the screaming crowd. It seemed Rook was nearly alone with his priests because the furies and the hounds had charged toward the explosion, drawn to the madness and chaos of intruders exploding a bomb on the outside perimeter. But they weren’t intruders. It was Dommiel and Anya creating their distraction. Just in time. They’d seen the flash of lightning, knowing it for the sign of supernatural battle. Knowing it was us. That was to be the signal if we needed help getting out. Fortunately, it had worked. Rook and Simian had a lot of muscle, but they were all brainless beasts. Easily distracted, thank the stars.
The crowd thickened at the gate, but Xander lifted me at the waist and tossed me over his broad shoulder, caveman style. If I hadn’t been so terrified, I’d have laughed, or kicked him for hauling me like a damsel in distress. Then I realized why. Another smaller explosion rocked the earth near the gate, scattering the party-goers back toward the castle. I couldn’t see from my upside-down position, but that was Dommiel’s second sequence, to allow us a break out of the gate. I’d likely have fallen back to the ground if I wasn’t in Xander’s arms. But I was. Xander barreled on, sure and strong, right out of the gate before zipping us into the Void.
While careening through that nebulous space of black and gray, he pulled me from over his shoulders and clutched me close. I buried my head in the crook of his neck, clinging to him, fear still rioting through my blood.
Snapping out of the Void onto his rooftop in Chelsea, I had a flicker of a second to wonder why he’d taken us here before his mouth was on mine. Hot, scorching, devouring. His fist in my hair, his other arm crushed me to him, wrapping all the way around till his fingers dug into my hip. I whimpered as he lifted me off my feet and carried me, never breaking his mouth from mine, through the door, down the stairwell, and into his flat.
Pressing me against the nearest wall, he kept me off the ground, hands clenching my thighs and holding them wide to make room for his magnificent body. I clutched his hair and nape when he kissed me hard, groaning as he stroked his tongue over mine then sucked. Then he pulled away and stared into me.
Yes. Into me.
Shit.
That look.
The darkness swirled, washing out the blue. For a minute, he looked more demon than hunter, the thought pumping my heart faster.
I cupped his angular jaw. “Are you in there?” I asked, panting with short, sucking breaths.
Then his mouth lifted on one side, the charming Xander making a brief appearance, the hardness still there in the black.
“Yes, Carowyn.” He clamped his teeth gently over my bottom lip, letting it slide away before licking the small sting. “I’m in here.”
He released my leg with the high slit, finally allowing one of my feet to touch the floor. But if I thought he was letting me go, I was quite mistaken. Without warning, he stroked his fingers along the drenched satin between my legs. Grinning wide, he slid the fabric over and pumped two fingers inside me on a long, deep glide. My mouth fell open with a gasp. Digging my nails into his crisp white shirt at the shoulders, I held on. For that was all I could do as he stared into me with fierce lust and hot determination and stroked me with perfection.
“Soon, love,” he ground out on rocky velvet. “Soon, I’ll be in here.” He stroked a third finger inside me till he filled me up, circling my tight nub with his thumb.
“Xander,” I whispered against his lips, biting at him the way he did me, wanting to convey what he made me feel. After all this time, after decades of mindless, emotionless sex that sizzled short and never lingered and left this gaping abyss in the place that was once my fervently beating heart, there was now Xander. I trembled with the sensations he stirred, the emotions he stoked back to life, willing me back from the dead, from the cold isolation that had become my walking grave and my dark friend. The pleasure he wrought with so little effort overwhelmed me.
“Tell me what you need, Carowyn.”
He continued to stare steadily, unwavering, blazing, his fingers stroking unhurriedly. And yet, behind the darkness there shimmered the reflection of every quaking fear and every desperate desire that whispered from my bones. This wasn’t just me caught up in him. This was a mutual unwinding of all we tried to guard close. Like these glass hearts we shielded with frosty indifference and callous denial, as if they couldn’t be broken. The truth was, they would always be broken.
“Tell me,” he begged. Yes, he swallowed hard, his throat working, his eyes burning, and he begged me.
That’s when I knew for certain. We were in this together. Deep. I was willing to fall, to break with him. I could let the world shatter and maybe…maybe we could pick up the pieces of us and, together, reassemble them. For I was sure, after this, I would no longer be the same woman I once was.
“I need you, Xander,” I replied honestly, skating my nose along his, my kiss-swollen lips gusting against his parted mouth. “Only you.”
He closed his eyes on a shuddering breath and pressed his forehead to mine. “Then you shall have me.”
Chapter Nineteen
Xander
Her admission slew me. I pulled my fingers from inside her and fell to my knees, then gripped the fabric on either side of the long slit at her leg and ripped her dress completely in half. It slithered to the floor.
Fucking hell. Her body, encased in transparent white lace panties and a matching strapless corset.
I stayed on my knees and unhooked the corset along the front, ma
king quick work of it. Tugging her panties and garter down with one hand, I tossed them aside, too. I wanted nothing barring me from her magnificent body.
I sat back, hands on my thighs. Finally, I could see all of her—beautiful inked images, toffee-bronze skin, luscious curves. Swimming up her left side was a green-haired mermaid, her scaled and fanning tail sweeping across her torso. On the other side was a purple-haired one, their tails crossing, meeting, and meshing into its own scaled corset that stopped just below her perfect full breasts. An eastern Indian design of swirls and scrolls swept under her breasts and flourished on the outer curves, wrapping up to her shoulders like an elaborate gown. The Indian design continued into the sleeve-work on both arms, intertwined with a myriad of images harmoniously stitched together—swords, a tree with deep roots, ravens in flight, guns, a purple orchid, a skeleton horse, and musical notes weaving in and out and around down to her wrists. I knew what her full-back tattoo looked like, and I planned to see it up close soon enough.
“Xander,” she whispered. Her fists balled at her sides. Her chest heaved with shallow breaths.
That’s when I realized I was just sitting there, gaping, mesmerized like a lovestruck schoolboy. Except I’d never been lovestruck before. I’d been in deep, profound lust too many times to count. But Carowyn… Heaven save me.
I felt the darkness that came from too much demon residue, urging me toward my primal instincts. To grab and take and fuck her hard. But that wasn’t about to happen. I was going to go so painfully slow she’d beg me to let her come by the time I was done. As if she sensed my train of thought, she pleaded.
“Xander, please.”
I flattened my palm, fingers splayed across her trim stomach, the contrast of my large, pale hand across her inked-and-bronzed skin gouged some inert emotion from deep within me. Possession didn’t quite cut it. I pressed her back against the wall and leaned forward, trailing my lips over her hipbone.
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