Wicked Souls: A Limited Edition Reverse Harem Romance Collection

by Rebecca Royce

  “Fine,” Iradon snapped. “But if anything happens to her, you’ll regret it for the rest of eternity.”

  Jackie barely waited for him to finish talking before she bit into the cake. She closed her eyes as the flavor burst into her mouth. It was the best cake she’d ever eaten. Moist and spicy, just the right amount of kick—infernal pastries were obviously the best pastries.

  “Oh god…” she moaned. “It’s so good.”

  She shoved the cake into her mouth, grateful that she could be greedy and didn’t have to share with the three men who sat around her.

  She plucked the crumbs from the paper package and ate any scrap of it that she could find and then sighed happily. “It’s not a three course meal, but it’ll have to do,” she said with a smile. “If you can find a baked potato up there, I wouldn’t say no.”

  “No potatoes,” the demon said and Jackie thought she saw a hint of a smile on his face. Her cheeks warmed slightly. Was she really considering flirting with another demon? Maybe. Definitely. He was definitely attractive… Maybe this was her new type. Tall, dark, and demonic.

  She crawled back on the blankets and leaned against Iradon’s side. He wrapped an arm over her shoulders and pulled her close and she smiled as his demonic body heat radiated through her and took away the chill of the night.

  Admar took his place on her other side and wound his arm around her waist.

  She sighed happily as warmth enveloped her, and she felt arousal flare in her belly. If she was going to feel like this every time they touched her they’d never get anything done. Admar’s fingers stroked against her stomach and tugged at the buttons of her jeans, while Iradon leaned over to press his lips against the side of her neck.

  She looked across the chapel at the demon who leaned against the pews. “Maybe we should cool it for tonight,” she said softly.

  “Why?” Admar purred. “Afraid of an audience?”

  Nine

  “What do you mean, what now?” Jackie demanded.

  Admar’s eyebrow rose. “It’s just you and me… like the night we met.”

  Goddamnit he was charming. “You mean the night you tricked me into taking the lantern?”

  Admar shrugged. “That’s fair. But I didn’t trick you—you were meant to find it.”

  “So I’ve been told.”

  She wasn’t in the mood to be charmed, but Admar was making that difficult. Her night with Iradon had been amazing, intoxicating, and now she found herself wondering if Admar’s touch would feel the same.

  “Why did you take the lantern?” she blurted out. Anything to get her mind off the way his jeans fit over his hips.

  “I’m tired of this job,” he said.

  “Job?”

  “I’m supposed to guard that thing until it’s claimed…”

  “I thought that was Iradon’s job—”

  Admar snorted. “He’s definitely not in charge of anything.”

  “So why take it? You got me to pick it up, your job is done.”

  Admar sat up. “You don’t get it. I don’t want this job anymore. I don’t want to wait around for three hundred years until the boss gets a new bride. It’s bullshit. I’m tired of wasting my eternity in HR.”

  Jackie laughed. “HR?”

  “It’s like recruiting,” he said bitterly. “I have to narrow down the choices, and make sure the lantern gets to the right person.”

  “And I was the ‘right person’?”

  Admar shook his head and chuckled. “Hell no,” he said. “You were on the list, but you’re not the ‘right’ person.”

  Jackie was insulted for a moment. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means, that if the lantern went to you, there was a chance that you could be convinced—”

  “Convinced? Convinced of what?”

  Admar looked at her seriously. “That you could do what needed to be done.”

  “What?”

  Admar got up off the bed and walked toward her. “You need to be able to destroy it—to end the cycle. I need to get out of this job. I want out. And you have to help me. You have to.”

  Jackie looked at him suspiciously. “What if I don’t want to?”

  Admar stepped closer. “You want to be the devil’s bride?”

  “Hell no. I don’t want to marry anyone! I didn’t sign up for that!”

  “But that’s what will happen if you let that damned dog take you to the lantern’s cradle… If you do what he wants, you’re trapped. Three hundred years as the Bride of Satan. Queen of Hell.”

  “And then what?” Her voice shook and she swallowed thickly. He was so close, and she smelled amazing. She could feel heat radiating off him and her fingers itched to touch him.

  She heard a muffled rumble and flinched. “What was that?”

  “Thunder,” Admar said. “It’s raining.”

  “Iradon better not let my burger get wet,” she muttered.

  “What are we going to do until he gets back?” he asked. His voice was dark and velvety, and Jackie felt some of her irritation with how they had met slide away.

  Admar reached out and placed his hands on her upper arms. His touch was gentle, and Jackie sucked in a breath as she felt the heat of his palms through her shirt.

  She tried to step back, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She was addicted to the way it felt when he touched her. It was so much like Iradon’s touch, but so different at the same time.

  “What will you do if you’re not looking after the lantern?” she asked quickly.

  Admar took a deep breath. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “Maybe I’ll try something else—I haven’t really traveled… Maybe EuroDisney...”

  Jackie laughed. “You’re not serious.”

  “Oh, I definitely am. Walt is a legend down south.”

  “Down… south? Oh… oh shit, No way. You’re lying.”

  Admar shrugged. “Why lie? The truth takes way less effort, and I’m all about that.”

  Jackie shook her head and looked toward the door. “If I do what you want—what will happen to Iradon?”

  Admar shrugged again. “What does it matter? He’ll go back to his job, and he’ll forget all about you.”

  Jackie didn’t like the sound of that. “Forget me?”

  “If the lantern is destroyed—I don’t know what will happen. It’s never been destroyed before. No one has ever listened to me.”

  “Oh…”

  “Can I convince you?” he asked.

  “Convince me?” Jackie laughed. “What are you trying to convince me of?”

  Admar’s hands tightened on her arms and he bent his head to kiss her. Jackie’s eyes fell closed as his lips pressed against hers. While Iradon’s kisses were hard and insistent, Admar was more measured in his approach—gentle but full of something she could not quite identify.

  Her hands came up to his chest and she opened her mouth under his. His tongue rubbed against hers, and she felt a strange rasping. She gasped, pulled away, and looked up at him in surprise. He grinned at her, showing sharp white teeth as he did so. His pale eyes flashed red and the iris’ narrowed into a catlike shape.

  “That being Queen of Hell isn’t something you want… It’s not you, Jackie Keller.”

  Jackie laughed. “How would you know? Being Queen wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

  “I know a lot of things,” he replied. “I know you don’t want that life. You don’t want to go to hell. You want to have your own life.”

  Jackie shrugged. “It might not be that bad.”

  “Trust me, it is.”

  “Who the hell do you think—”

  “I’m a Hellcat,” he whispered.

  Jackie let out a small squeak of surprise as he leaned forward and dragged his tongue along her neck so she could feel the rasp of it.

  “And if you were Queen of Hell, you couldn’t have this…”

  “Oh shit,” she whispered as she imagined what that tongue would feel like when it rubbed o
ver other parts of her anatomy.

  Admar’s hands slipped up to cup her face and he kissed her again, pulling her close.

  The sound of boots on gravel made Jackie suck in a breath and she pulled away from Admar’s kiss as the door opened.

  Iradon walked into the motel room with his hands full of takeout containers. Jackie’s mouth watered at the smell of the cheeseburger and fries he carried.

  There was an awkward silence as Iradon registered what was happening.

  “Fucking seriously?” he growled. He set the takeout down on the small table and glared at them.

  Iradon turned to leave, but Jackie darted forward, caught his arm, and held him back.

  "Don’t you dare. It’s pouring rain. What are you going to do? Curl up outside the door?” Iradon raised an eyebrow and Jackie tugged on his arm. “Stay! We can watch a movie or something."

  Iradon shot a quick glance at the other demon and his eyes flashed red for the briefest moment. "What movie?" he growled. Jackie pulled him toward the bed and pushed him down.

  Admar sat down on Jackie's other side and started pulling pillows out that they could sit back against. "What should we watch? You pick, Jackie." He seemed to be enjoying Iradon’s frustration.

  Jackie grabbed the remote and started flipping through the channels, blushing slightly as she skipped past the Pay-Per-Porn channels. “I didn’t think motels had those,” she muttered. Admar chuckled, and she tried to ignore the flare of heat in her stomach at the sound.

  On a whim, she picked a horror movie, something old and grainy that wouldn’t remind her of what was at stake in her own life.

  She deserved some time to relax and do something normal… The thought was almost ridiculous. There was nothing normal about her life. It would never be normal again. Something about demonically inspired quests would have that effect on any normal person.

  She shifted back on the bed and took the spot between the two men. It was a little awkward, but she enjoyed the heat that radiated through her jeans where their thighs touched hers.

  The movie was almost laughably un-scary, but Jackie wasn't paying much attention to it anyway. Every time one of the demons beside her shifted or made a sound, it drew her attention, and every inch of her skin was tense, waiting for a touch.

  It was clear that Admar had some other ideas about what was happening. He might have been their prisoner, but had just as much right to be there as Iradon did, and she didn’t want him to feel like he didn’t deserve to relax, too.

  Admar’s fingers brushed her shoulder, and his arm behind her on the pillows crept closer and closer to being wrapped around her. Iradon grabbed her leg just above her knee to startle her during all the tense parts of the movie.

  The attention, the tension—it was all making Jackie deliciously lightheaded and the movie wasn’t even halfway over yet.

  "Is there anything to drink?" She asked the question nervously. “Did anyone check the minifridge?”

  Both demons shook their heads, but they didn’t drink. What the hell did they care about food? Jackie’s stomach growled, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to eat a burger at that precise moment.

  “Don’t you want your food?” Iradon asked absently. His eyes were focused on the movie.

  “I’m… not hungry,” she said haltingly. That was a lie, but she was suddenly self-conscious.

  Iradon laughed and pointed at the flickering TV screen. “Seriously? Is that what they think Hell looks like? That’s ridiculous.”

  Jackie frowned at the TV. “It was 1935, they barely knew what anything looked like.”

  Iradon snorted at her response, but didn’t look away from the movie.

  Jackie groaned and slid down to the end of the bed. “Fine, I’ll check the fridge.” The motel room’s minifridge was old, and noisy, but she was pleasantly surprised to see a bottle of vodka wedged into the tiny freezer compartment.

  "Ooh, what's this?" She hauled the frosty bottle out of one of the freezer and held it up like a trophy. “No mixers,” she sighed. “And I don’t have any cash for the vending machine… What do you think, shots?"

  Admar's eyebrows shot up. Iradon dragged his eyes away from the TV and he watched with an expression of disdain as Admar jumped up off the bed and snatched the booze out of her hand, clearly happy enough with the turn of events.

  “Nothing burns quite like Holy Water, but it’ll have to do,” Admar said with a wicked grin.

  Jackie took back the bottle, unscrewed the cap and took a swig. She coughed, laughed and handed the bottle back to Admar.

  Well, if it was going to be that kind of night, so be it.

  Admar knocked back a mouthful, then grimaced at the bottle. "Mango? That tastes nothing like mango."

  Iradon scowled at him. “You know that doesn’t do anything to us, why are you even bothering?”

  Admar laughed and shrugged. “Why not?”

  Iradon crossed his arms over his chest and Jackie held the bottle out to him. “Come on. One little sip.”

  Iradon took the bottle and Jackie watched the ice on the outside melt away under his palm. He tipped the bottle up and took a sip. “You’re right, that tastes nothing like mango.”

  Jackie took the bottle back from him. "Well, I’m no expert,” she said before downing another gulp, "but it tastes enough like mango that I’m not mad about it.”

  Jackie crawled back onto the bed and the two demons flanked her, hellhound on one side, hellcat on the other. “So… why don’t you point out all the issues with this movie’s portrayal of your home, sweet home,” she said playfully as she waggled the bottle at Iradon.

  He grabbed it and took a drink. “Well, first of all, that is not what the Tree of Suffering looks like—”

  Admar laughed and reached across her to grab the bottle. His arm rubbed against Jackie’s breasts and his eyes widened as he realized what had happened. She shook her head and smiled.

  “And that guy doesn’t look remotely frightened enough to be on the fourth level… Why did they even take him there? Who did the research for this movie?”

  “Clearly they left out the demonic focus groups,” Jackie laughed.

  By the time the movie was over the vodka was almost gone and Jackie was feeling loose and flirty. Goddamn vodka. She shook the bottle and thrust the last of the vodka at Admar. "You finish this.

  Jackie got up from the bed and examined the battery on her phone. “Do they have dancing in hell?”

  Admar laughed. “Don’t ask him, he doesn’t seem like the dancing type.”

  Iradon snarled at him, but didn’t say anything.

  He shifted on the bed as Jackie stabbed a finger into her music app and chose the first mix that was suggested. It had been a long time since she’d gone to the gym, but it would have to do. She pulled off her socks and started undulating to the beat, not really caring what she looked like. It was all about how she felt. Admar was quick to join her in her barefoot dancing and tossed the empty vodka bottle in the trash before sliding over onto their imaginary dance floor to join her.

  Admar came up behind her and Jackie leaned her head back as the heat of his body radiated through her shirt and into her back. “I wish we had some more of that vodka,” she said lazily, “the mango didn’t taste half as gross after a few shots.”

  The alcohol burned in her veins and made her feel bold and sexy. She hadn’t had as much as the demons in the room, but from what Iradon had said, she wasn’t really sure how much alcohol affected Hell’s minions. She didn’t really want to ask, either.

  Iradon got up off the bed and walked over to them. “It feels like you’re trying to toy with us—”

  Jackie laughed but felt her cheeks flood with embarrassed heat. "Is that something a mortal can even do? Surely you can't think I'd be so... devious." She was laughing, but she watched their reactions closely.”But you boys know all about devious, don’t you?”

  “Maybe just a little,” Admar said in her ear.

  “Maybe just a l
ittle,” Iradon echoed.

  Jackie wagged a teasing finger at him. “No tricks now,” she said with mock seriousness. “Do I have to make you promise not to bewitch me, or bedevil me? What did the movie call it?”

  “Bedevilled,” Admar said and she could hear the smile in his voice.

  Iradon moved forward and caught her finger between his teeth and held it there, biting down just hard enough to keep her from drawing her hand back.

  "Let go," she said, still laughing. "I need that hand."

  He opened his mouth just enough to release her.

  Jackie finally registered how intently he was looking at her, and her laughter evaporated, becoming something serious and burning and fleetingly seductive.

  She examined her finger and then turned and held her hand out to Admar. “Kiss it better, that puppy bites.”

  The music still played from Jackie’s phone, and she hadn’t really stopped moving to the beat. Iradon’s hands were on her hips, just lightly, and Admar’s crooked smile made her chest feel tight.

  Admar took her hand obediently. “What a bad dog,” he said. Iradon growled faintly, the sound sent shivers up Jackie’s spine. He kissed her finger gently, and then licked it with a tongue that rasped gently against her fingertip.

  The thought of what that tongue feel like somewhere else flickered through her mind.

  That thought was way too bold. Fucking mango vodka. Tequila never made her feel like this.

  “Better?” he asked.

  “Mmm,” she replied haltingly. He hadn’t released her hand yet, and Iradon’s hands were still on her hips, familiar and hot, as the music pulsed from her phone.

  The flickering light from the TV cast a strange light across their bodies as they moved to the music. She was between them again, her movements pressing her against first one, then the other. Every time her body came close to theirs, she fought against the urge to throw one of them down on the bed, and every time she rubbed accidentally against one of their crotches, she could tell that they were thinking the exact same thing.