by Kimber Lee
Myrna shook her head. “He can’t really read your mind. He just senses your aura, and your emotions along with it. It’s a bit like how you sense a demon’s presence around you.” Gently taking my left hand, she slipped the ring onto my index finger. It fit like a glove and, against my tanned skin, it actually looked quite beautiful.
Flexing my fingers, I admired the way the ruby sparkled with what little light it caught from the one window in the room. I was instantly attached to it, which was irrational.
“Now, come. We must choose an outfit for you. The lord’s lover shouldn’t appear in jeans and a wife beater.” She let out a tinkling laugh. “And you look like you own several wife beaters.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” I said softly, unable to keep the tiny note of dread in my voice. It was because, all of a sudden I felt that it was important to know the biggest thing that had been bothering me since the night I found out what Andrei Anghelescu was.
As astute as Myrna was, she looked like she was about to ask me what I meant before changing her mind and exhaling heavily. “Give me your hands.”
Without hesitation, I did exactly that, allowing her hands to wrap around mine.
Then she fixed her eyes on mine. “The life your mother chose didn't entail a price that just involved her. A demon doesn’t do simple favors like that. Offering her only child, a daughter, to Lord Andrei—that was part of her bargain. You were his before you knew him.”
Her eyelids fluttered closed. “In addition to that, some say that when the world was young and gods roamed the earth, they felt pity for the mortals subjected to demons. And so they gave the demons paries, the untouchables, to defile. Basically, paries were men and women impervious to a demon’s life-sucking enchantment.” Those green eyes of hers that were a shade lighter than my own flew open. “You’re an untouchable. But then, perhaps I just fed you a pile of bullshit.”
“Whatever you do, Rae, do not let go of me,” Andrei intoned, pulling me even closer into the all-encompassing heat of his embrace. “You got that?”
I nodded imperceptibly, aware of his chin resting on the top of my head, aware of every inch of his body that was pressed against mine. “Yeah, sure. Whatever.”
“If everything goes according to plan, we’ll end up in your apartment,” he said, in what he probably thought was a soothing voice that ended up sounding nerve-jangling instead. “If it doesn’t, parts of your luscious body will be scattered throughout Paris.”
“You really know how to show a girl a good time,” I mumbled into his shirt, momentarily thrown by the laughter vibrating on his chest.
“After all, not every girl can say they’ve experienced the wonders of teleportation,” he bluntly stated.
Not every girl can say she was offered up as a kid to a demon lord like a freaking sacrifice by her own mother.
“Hey.” Andrei’s voice was achingly soft. Before I could blink, he was tilting my head up with one hand. I hated it when he seemed so… normal. “Did Myrna make you uncomfortable?”
I blinked back the tears that were threatening to pour out. Not here, please! Not now, with Myrna in the next room. Not with Andrei. “No. I just… Let’s get this over with, Lord Andrei.”
His brow furrowed. “You’re lying to me.”
I jolted my head back. “Just take me home.”
He didn’t object, cupping my head to his chest with one hand. “Don’t move. And close your eyes.”
I shut them, squeezing them so tight that they started to tingle. Gripping the taut material stretched across Andrei’s back, I concentrated on my breathing. As terrified as I was, a part of me just couldn’t wrap my head around this whole day and wanted more. More revelations, more excitement, just… more.
But that was when I felt it—that more.
Bubbles of something fizzled inside me and every part of my body itched. It felt like my skin had been turned inside out and someone was feverishly stirring my insides à la Gordon Ramsay. The urge to move, to scratch became something I physically had to fight until… nothing.
“Open your eyes, Rae,” Andrei commanded, his voice husky.
I did… and saw that we were in my bedroom.
Culebra, Puerto Rico, was an incinerator even at nighttime and the huge bonfire that had been lit didn’t help any. It took all of my willpower not to tear off the sheer violet Grecian dress Myrna picked out for me to wear on this “wondrous” occasion. It was probably thousands of years old. But after soaking myself in a lavender scented bath, I couldn’t smell the moth balls that, I was positive, had kept this dress intact.
Standing beside Andrei for what felt like decades, I was distinctly conscious of how little I knew about anything. From the ancient tongue he spoke so glibly to the way the other witnesses bowed before him, I realized that I was completely out of my element here… and that I was surrounded by demons. It didn’t matter that they treated me like Andrei’s queen or something—mea domina, I heard them say—or that they seemed to be quite harmless in his presence. My Spidey senses, where their kind was concerned, were tingling in overdrive and I had to fight back wave after wave of nausea the longer I remained in their presence.
Still, what little I understood of the ceremony seemed rather tame and actually pretty cute. All I basically had to do was stand on a gorgeous beach beside a gorgeous shirtless man as a glorified escort… until Roan, the incubus, and his female, a cute Puerto Rican minx called Nina, started stripping.
Judging from the poker faces of the other five witnesses surrounding the bonded couple, I was the only person taken aback by this—probably because, aside from Nina, I was the only actual person there.
“They consummate their bond before us,” Andrei growled in a stage whisper, obviously sensing my discomfort. “Tonight, he will put a baby in her.”
“A baby?” I blurted out, not too quietly. A few pairs of eyes swiveled in my direction. Lowering my voice considerably, I told Andrei, “That’s disgusting. Is that necessary?”
He gave me a fleeting look. “It is… because once she sells her soul and makes the transition, she will no longer be able to conceive.”
I nearly choked on my tongue. Nina was a stunning, strawberry blonde twenty-five-year-old with her entire life ahead of her. Was she honestly going to throw it all away for one rugged, sexy Irish demon?
That appears to be the case, I thought, unreasonably mad at the redhead.
I could accept the enchanted rings the couple had exchanged. I could accept the heavy making out. I could even accept the mutual bloodletting. But a baby? Hell, no! It would be an abomination and Nina should’ve known that.
Now completely naked, Nina knelt before an equally nude Roan. Submitting to him. Giving herself to him.
“Stand,” Roan ordered, and Nina slowly did his bidding.
She was an elfin little thing and he was a tower of hard, muscular flesh. Blushing, I noticed his impressive hard-on. Nestled in a forest of blonde curls, it bobbed against his belly as he took one step closer to his woman.
I swallowed. Usually, I wasn’t so prudish. But seriously? Watching another couple get it on right in front of me? Well, voyeurism had never been my thing.
At least until…
“Getting excited?” Andrei’s voice was low and thick in my ear. The heat of his breath shot straight to my center.
I shook my head as if I could shake the sensation away. “Nope.”
Roan and Nina were kissing now, really kissing. The sounds they made were loud and wet, and their touches, their caresses were fast and frantic. Slowly, they sank to the russet-colored sand and Roan kissed his way down Nina’s neck, to her collarbone, and down the heaving valley between her dusky tipped breasts.
Fight it, Rae. Fight the feeling…
Too fucking late. Of their own accord, my nipples hardened and protruded against the filmy fabric of my dress and Andrei reached out and pinched my left nipple, which drew a stifled gasp from me. That alone was enough to make me wet.
How could the others just stand there unaffected? Wasn’t it turning them on in the slightest?
“I can smell you,” Andrei causally remarked, ignoring my small talk. “Your arousal. The dripping heat of your sex.”
Oh, damn!
“There are about a dozen other smells here, salty air included. You’re just confused.”
“Oh? I think I know what you smell like when you’re wet for me.”
I made some kind of whimpering sound that was, thankfully, drowned out by Nina’s pants, wails, and screams of “Roan! Close! I’m so close, dios! So, so close!” as her demon tongued her into oblivion. She was spread for all to see—the glistening velvety folds of her soaked sex stark and bare. And although I never once considered being with another woman, I had to admit that the sight was quite hot.
“Like what you see, mea domina?”
I was now aware that Andrei had moved to stand behind me and just tightly wound his strong arms around me.
That’s Latin, isn’t it? Yes, it’s Latin. Such an old language. I bet he knows hundreds of other languages. Let’s see… Greek, Italian, Romanian, Russian, French, Japanese…
Andrei’s palm on my vagina made for a different sort of distraction. The skirt’s wispy material was no match for the force of his palm cupping my heat. Myrna had informed me that underwear wasn’t necessary and I took her advice to heart. Now I was paying the price for her so-called instruction.
“Sweet little one, you are so very wet,” Andrei whispered in my ear, nipping my earlobe. The tip of his middle finger ducked inside me, dragging a sliver of cloth with it. “So very, very wet.” He moved the probing digit around, the pad of his thumb slowly and painfully rubbing my aching clit.
I held onto his forearm, leaning against him. “No,” I moaned, at the same time that Nina screamed “Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes!” and arched her back in the sand, riding out her orgasm.
Through hooded eyes I watched Roan position himself between her splayed legs, and guide his thick shaft into her. Andrei’s breath hitched in my ear, his hand slipping under my dress through the high slit at my thigh. I automatically parted my legs, allowing him to cup me again, skin to skin this time.
“Yes,” I amended when he began to properly pleasure me. Grinding against his hardness, I whimpered, “Oh, God, yes, Andrei!”
“Look at them,” he gruffly directed, but I already was. Roan was riding the woman in earnest, the back of her knees hooked over his very broad shoulders. “Look at the way they look at each other. Their carnal desire. Their unquenchable need. Their unconditional love.”
I dug my fingernails into Andrei’s skin, riding the three fingers that were bringing me to a fast-approaching climax. At the small of my back, Andrei’s erection made its presence known. Just feeling that and witnessing the scene unfolding before me, pushed me over the edge. Wave after wave, my sweet climax came, my cries mingling with Nina’s screams of pleasure.
“Good girl,” Andrei praised softly, holding me to him through the rolling aftershocks.
Once I came down from that high, I realized that the voyeuristic incubi had their eyes on me and had, in all probability, watched me come apart in their lord’s arms. But I couldn’t bring myself to care.
“You’re mine. You know that?”
Without pulling out of his arms, I calmly responded. “And just how many years have I been yours?”
“What are you talking about?” He spun me around so abruptly, my head jerked back.
If only his beautiful, beautiful blue eyes held some truth. “Lauren… gave me to you so you’d help her,” I retorted bitterly, all the pent-up anger and disbelief coming to the surface in that statement. It was one thing to be bartered like a commodity. But for the barterer to be my own flesh and blood? Well, it hurt. “The fact that I don’t die after screwing you only sweetens the deal, doesn’t it?”
“She didn’t give you to me,” was Andrei’s unruffled response. “She mentioned you but you were a child, the daughter of a hunter. There was nothing I could do with you. As a courtesy, I helped her contact Lilith.” His hand cupped my chin. “I had no idea who you were until I had someone do some digging.” His pupils had dilated and his grip on my chin became almost painful. “But now? You… are… mine. We both know this.”
I shut my eyes, processing what he just said. He’d rejected my mother’s selfish offer and I’d strutted into Vegas years later like a lamb to the slaughter, giving him exactly what she’d proposed to him—only twenty-one years later. If I hadn’t taken the Darryl Winer case, would I have met Andrei? Would I be standing here, on a tiny island called Culebra, which I’d never heard of, surrounded by a group of demons who just watched me come for their king?
No. You’d be in bed with Daniel Lawless, your babysitter.
I let out a soft laugh and opened my eyes. Fat chance. That ship had sailed long ago. He thought of me as nothing more than his dim-witted, clueless charge.
“Did I say something funny?” Andrei snarled, his brows furrowed.
I gave him a coy smile and touched him. “Let’s teleport back to my place so I can show you how hot this little show got me.”
His lips twitched. “Oh?”
“I’m wet, remember?”
He brought his long, skillful fingers to his lips and drew them in, sucking on them hard before releasing them with a soft pop. “I remember.”
Chapter 13
The knocking at the door was definitely not some kind of masochistic dream my subconscious had created to punish me for the sinful things I’d done last night—most of which happened on the floor. Ignoring the incessant banging on my front door was going to be impossible, however. Plus there was something heavy across my waist. Uncomfortably heavy.
I forced my eyes open and chewed on my bottom lip to keep from flipping out.
“Andrei?” I said, before clearing my throat so that my, “What the hell are you still doing here?” didn’t sound like it was from a frog.
“Trying to sleep,” he murmured drowsily, and I heaved his arm off me and sat up, surveying just how much space he really took up, which was all of it. “Who the hell’s at the door?” he asked, eyes still shut.
“I, um, have no idea,” I replied, mystified by how freaking normal he was behaving. “You spent the night?” My voice was filled with unadulterated awe.
“You should go get that,” he said, a wry smile tugging at his lips.
But I was already up and shrugging my robe on. Feeling miffed, I asked in a tone heavy with sarcasm, “Can I get you anything while I’m gone? Tea? Coffee? The morning paper?”
Stretched out on his back, he growled, “Just your pussy… in my mouth. But that can wait.”
At that, I stumbled over a lone Jimmy Choo on my way out. “You’re insatiable,” I called over my shoulder, shivering in anticipation, because seriously, the man gave pretty unreal head.
His throaty laugh followed me to the door. Ignoring security and common sense, I unlocked the door without peeking through the peephole—and was rewarded with opening it to none other than Daniel Lawless, the last person I would ever want to catch me reeking of illicit sex… with a demon who was still in my bed.
I stood there, gaping at him like a guppy until he tried to push past me. I hated it when people think they could walk all over me.
“What’s your problem?” I snapped.
“Jeez, Rainelle, I took a bloody early flight to get here. So the least you can do is let me in,” he grumbled, glaring down at me.
His hair had grown longer and fell over his forehead, and the Chelsea football shirt and black jeans he was wearing fit him like a glove. In short, he looked fit, virile, and totally capable of taking on a demon as powerful as Andrei.
I didn’t know how I felt about that. Worried? Relieved? Indifferent?
&n
bsp; “Why didn’t you call?” I spluttered, not budging an inch.
“Because your mobile’s off. Besides, this is sort of important, sweetheart.” And he swaggered past me, heading into the living room like he knew the layout of the place. “Much too important for a phone call.”
“Daniel, I…” I began, at the same time Andrei asked loudly, “We got company, babe?”
This is going to be ugly.
Andrei strolled in wearing nothing but the skin on his back and impressive morning wood. Daniel’s brow furrowed as he took him in. I waited… waited for Daniel to get a feel on him and realize that I’d been vigorously going at it with a demon a few hours ago. I waited for him to repel Andrei to the pits of hell, or whatever dimension he’d crawled out from, and condemn me as a disgrace to my father and the entire human race. With that thought, it was strangely comforting to remember how strong Andrei was and that he would probably rip Daniel’s head off before he could so much as take a breath to say the banishing words.
But all Lawless said was, “I had no idea you have company. Maybe I should’ve called.”
Wait… what?
“He’s, um, we’re…” Clearly, I was quite disconcerted by the fact that in Daniel’s eyes Andrei was apparently a normal guy who merely rolled out of my bed and was comfortable enough about his body to strut about in his birthday suit.
“I’m her boyfriend.” Andrei folded his arms across his chest, biceps bunching together and reminding me that he really could do some damage to Daniel… if he didn’t leave now.
Then it hit me like a blow to the solar plexus: Boyfriend.
I gaped at Andrei, stunned. Was this his way of marking his territory or was he simply having fun toying with Daniel? Did he know about my ancient crush on the hunter? Did he even know Daniel was a hunter?
Probably. He knew everything.
“Well, if you don’t mind, I need to speak with Rainelle. Alone,” Daniel added, as if that was unclear.
Andrei’s eyes narrowed at me. “Rae?”