How could such a cold, hard man cause this inferno in her?
She’d never had such a profound reaction with any guy until him. As furious as she’d been, she only sought to taunt him, but he’d turned the tables on her. Now she wanted to dash back there, crawl up on him, and seek out whatever warmth he possessed until the emptiness in her faded.
How could he make her feel this way?
She didn’t even like the impossible immortal.
Because he made you feel alive.
Ugh, she shut out the thought and dragged off the black ribbed top she wore, her body still too jittery. Whether from their fight or the broken kiss, she had no idea. She only knew she had to stay away from him, stop provoking him. Or it wouldn’t end well, not for her.
Exhaling roughly, Shadow gently stroked the slight bumps of the three small nodes on her sore chest. Against her pale skin, they lined her sternum like dull ruby stones, but nothing could hide their otherworldliness when they glowed.
Sometimes she wished Nate had let her die instead of turning her into this aberrant.
She dropped her hands and clenched the basin. Nik had no clue as to why she’d sought out demons. He thought it was for sex. She would have laughed if it wasn’t so painful. As if she could ever reveal the truth.
Drawn as she was to the maddening man, he would certainly hurry on the Grim Reaper’s visit by keeping her a prisoner. That vile entity no doubt waited for her soul since she’d cheated him once.
Inhaling wearily, she managed to pull the rasping pain from her terminated feeding deep into her psyche. The life-sustaining energy she’d consumed from the demon should hold her for a few days. She hoped.
She removed the rest of her clothes, changed into a loose sweatshirt and faded navy sweats, then hung her clothes on a nail in the wall. Then she straightened her spine and stalked out of the minuscule bathroom in socks-clad feet. Nik sat on a wooden crate now and leaned against the wall, reading something on his cell.
He looked up as she headed for her bed, and her mind tumbled straight into their kiss.
Gah. It was as if she’d never been kissed before. No matter her lost memories, she must have locked lips with someone, somewhere in her past.
Totally ignoring him, Shadow got out the sheet and a thin comforter Eddi had provided from the steel drawers, dressed her makeshift bed, and dropped down on the mattress. Not wanting to stare at her nemesis’ annoyingly handsome face, she faced the pitted wall.
One more day, she consoled herself as she shut her eyes, and he would be gone.
Pissed, Nik watched Shadow curl up under her covers. Hell, he was a godsdamn Guardian, his control legendary. But this mere slip of a female had destroyed that record in a second.
He rubbed his unshaven jaw, his cock an aching throb against the unforgivable fly of his jeans, resisting the urge to go over and say…what? Sorry?
He wasn’t sorry about kissing her. If he were honest, he wanted her mouth on his again, even if just for a moment, so he could feel that transient bit of warmth in a life that had been endlessly cold and dead. Something she’d given him, as fleeting as it was.
However, nothing lasted forever as life had shown him. He’d learned the lesson the hard way when he was still a babe.
His mother, Maya Devi, a legendary beauty and the moon goddess from the Indian pantheon, had broken her vows of chastity, succumbing to the Greek god of love. Even though Eros was one of the primordial deities, her peers still shunned her. And Nik became her constant reminder of her fall from grace.
He’d just turned five winters when she’d summoned him. Memories slipped free…
His mātā turned to him as the servant left him in her chambers.
“Nikkos,” she murmured in greeting, giving her pet cobra coiled around her neck one more slow caress before she removed the reptile and let it slither onto a boulder in the indoor rockery in the corner.
Nikkos rubbed his neck and the serpent imprint that had formed there, and his mother frowned. “The naga will protect you, my child.”
She always said that.
“You’re going to your sire, Nikkos.”
He lowered his hand, his heart thrashing against his ribs. “Mama?”
“I cannot keep you, mera beta. Not if I want my life to be what it should.”
“No. I want to stay with you!” He ran to her and grasped her hand, tears burning his eyes. “Don’t send me away!”
“I must.” She gently pried his fingers free. “I do this for your own good, beta.”
Her gaze drifted over his face, and he dashed his teary eyes with his knuckles, tried to be brave.
“You are so like him.” She tenderly touched his cheek. “No female should be broken because of what you are…” Her mouth tightened. “You should never, ever have a mate…” Warmth seeped through him, then darkness towed him under.
He awakened in a strange room, panic stealing his breath. “Mama!”
“Stop wailing, Nikkos. Your mother isn’t here,” a weary voice said. “I’m your sire, Eros.”
Terror squeezing his chest, he blinked at the tall stranger with the short golden-brown hair.
The male rubbed his jaw and shut his light green eyes briefly. “I think it would be better that you reside with a friend of mine. There are young there.”
Nikkos sat on the bed, pressed his lips together, struggling not to cry. Please, Mama, come take me back.
She didn’t.
A day later, a glowing figure appeared like a column of sunlight in his room.
Cool blue eyes watched him. “Your sire requests you squire with me. Come along, young. I am Zeus.”
In the Greek pantheon, the younger boys sought him out, and he’d finally made friends, until a fight broke out between him and another boy over a ball game he won.
Beaten and in agony, he lay on the ground as they threw the truth at him. The boys he saw as friends only accepted him because Zeus had commanded it.
“No one wants you here, mongrel.”
Their name-calling gored a hole in his stomach. Eros’ mongrel. Half breed.
Fury exploded. His body dissolved, taking on an eerie smoky serpent’s form for the first time, terrifying him more than his so-called friends as he twisted around, garroting them.
Still, the derisions grew as did the labels, but from afar now. Every single one of the names hurt.
The years passed, and he’d learned to wall up his pain, and he got by.
His sire never visited. Nor did his mother.
As he grew older, only anger drove him.
He fought in the arenas as a gladiator, but nothing filled the hole inside him. Then the missive arrived from the tribunal at the Gates of the Gods, conscripting him as protector to the new Goddess of Life in Sumeria…
Nik’s jaw hardened. He wasn’t that forlorn boy looking for scraps of affection any longer—Tartarus had seen to that. Besides, he no longer cared.
Tipping his head against the wall, he shut his eyes and sent his mind out, scanning the area around the basement—
A terrified cry rented the air. Nik’s eyes snapped open. He flashed across the room to where Shadow thrashed on the bed as if fighting off an attacker.
“Hey, hey—” He hunkered beside her, grasping her flailing hands. “It’s okay. No one’s gonna hurt you.”
Her eyelids flew open, her pupils eclipsing her unusual irises, appearing like black holes in her pale face. The agony in them had him picking her up and settling her on his lap as he sat on the mattress.
She buried her face in his neck, her slender body trembling against him, her silky hair brushing his neck and chin. He tightened his hold around her, willing the meager body heat he possessed into her.
“I have you,” he said quietly, gently rubbing her back, trying to calm her.
But holding her this close, witnessing her vulnerability, something more than desire crept through him. This urge to protect and keep her safe from any harm settled inside him.
> After several long minutes, her shuddering body quieted, her fingers bunching his shirt relaxed, and she eased back to stare at him with unblinking, wet eyes. Recognition gradually dawned, returning her irises to the arresting starburst hues, the red streaks brighter now amidst the scattered smudges of brown and teal blue.
His gaze lowered to the stretched neckline of her faded sweatshirt. It had slipped off her shoulder, revealing the tender swell of one breast and three dull ruby stones set low on her breastbone.
“I’m fine—” She yanked her top back in place, lurched up from his lap, and rolled back onto the bed, pulling the covers over her and curling into herself.
Nik rose and stared at her form hidden under the duvet. Hell, he had piercings, too. He wasn’t one to judge.
But her weariness and terror beat at him. Nik reached out with his mind and soothed her into sleep. He crossed back to his side, removed his cell from his pocket. The display brightened. 4:18 A.M.
He needed to head out and track the other gang leader, but he didn’t want to leave Shadow alone and defenseless while asleep. Eddi hadn’t returned, either. He pushed his cell back into his pocket and dropped down on the lone wooden box again, his attention back on Shadow.
Why now, after all these millennia, did he feel this way? Feel this intense pull to a mortal that his entire mind felt as if it had fallen off its axis?
With no answers, he exhaled roughly and rubbed his jaw, then stilled.
The faint sounds of fighting reached him.
Nik shot to his feet, then cut a quick look at Shadow’s sleeping form. Hell, he was a Guardian, he had to check out this disturbance. A quick scan at the area around them revealed all was quiet, no hint of sulfur or humans anywhere close. A quick check of the locked door, he then dematerialized and headed toward the commotion just past The Refuge. The inhabitants’ fear scraped at him. Then the sulfuric stench hit.
Damn demoniis. Nik reformed near them. A wiry human fought the scourges in swift, sure moves—what the hell?
Eddi?
He ducked a blade coming at him, leaped up, and plunged his iron dagger straight into the soul sucker’s heart. Another blight dove for Eddi, and he stumbled, barely managing to evade a hellfire bolt from the third scum. The fourth grinned like a damn hyena.
“Well, now, this doesn’t seem fair,” Nik drawled. “Four against one?”
Heads snapped around in Nik’s direction, their eyes glowing like neon red moons in their gaunt faces. “Get lost. He’s ours,” one snarled.
“I don’t think so.” Nik held out his hand, summoned his Gaian sword appearing in an eddy of gray smoke.
The demoniis stilled. “It’s one of them Guardians,” one rasped.
“Eddi, move!”
The human ducked. Nik flew into them, his sword swinging, decapitating one of the scourges. A sharp pain splintered his back. Grunting, Nik summoned his obsidian dagger, and let it fly as he spun around, nailing the shithead in the heart.
A shriek ricocheted in the tunnel. The other scuttled away. Nik flashed across, his sword swinging, and he beheaded the demonii. Breaths sawing in and out of his lungs, he pivoted to find Eddi slicing the throat of the one he’d stabbed.
“I sensed you were different, even with the homeless camouflage,” Eddi said. “I didn’t realize just how much.”
Nik dismissed his sword. At the discomfort of the blade embedded in his back, he shoved it out with his mind. The weapon clattered to the ground, and the burning lesion healed.
Eddi studied the obsidian dagger he’d picked up from where the demonii had disintegrated, then handed it over. “Why are you here?”
Since the human knew about Others in this world, Nik didn’t believe in bullshitting around. “Homeless women and children are being abducted and taken to the Dark Realm—the demon world. You know anything about it?”
Lines furrowed Eddi’s brow. “Rumors, nothing concrete. Women and kids come here to The Refuge for a bit, but they leave. We don’t always know if it’s by their own will or not.”
“The gang leaders?”
Eddi shrugged. “Rough’s an asshole. Tolvi doesn’t come here, not his turf, but both are blights to this world. Rough with his drug dealings and abducting women for his own use. If he’s behind it, I don’t know. It’s why I keep my Shadow safe. They know I would castrate them if they ever come after her.” Eddi shot him a hard, warning glare.
Yeah, got it.
He wasn’t good enough for her. He knew that.
But he refused to let another innocent under his watch become a statistic. “Good. She’s asleep. Keep an eye on her. I’ll be back.”
Nik dematerialized and headed for the labyrinths beneath Tribeca in search of the other gang leader. At least Eddi could hold his own while he was gone.
But one thing was definite. He wasn’t leaving Shadow behind when he departed this hole.
Chapter 7
Nooo! Shadow jerked awake, a scream strangled in her throat at the stinging pain on her back, her heart drumming against her ribs like war drums.
As the phantom lashes on her back faded, she took in the familiar gloomy basement, a shuddering breath escaping her.
“Just a dream—a dream,” she whispered, a shiver sweeping through her. She huddled beneath the thin cover, a bone-deep coldness scraping her skin like bruising fingernails.
Christ, she scrubbed her burning face with icy hands. It was a miracle she’d fallen asleep. Usually, when she did manage to catch a wink or two, those same nightmares of being beaten plagued her.
Summoning every bit of her flagging energy, she rolled to her feet and stumbled to the tiny bathroom. Another wave of shivers coursed through her, and she wished she had access to a hot shower instead of a basin with cold water.
A spot wash later, her teeth clacking, she topped up her old Aquafina bottle with water and drank the icy liquid—
Oh, crap. How could she forget him?
Her pulse tripping, she dropped the bottle on the basin and darted back into her room, but the spot Nik had occupied was deserted.
Shadow stood there for a second, trying to understand her unexplained disappointment. Not like she expected him to wait around and watch her sleep, but still…
Dammit. She spun back for the bathroom. Yup, totally relieved he’s not here, she told herself, collecting her clothes from last night. Back at her bed, she stuffed them into her backpack, then changed into a pair of faded jeans and a black, sleeveless turtleneck top. As she donned her old, scuffed boots, her gaze slipped back to the other side of the small room.
Memories of him comforting her after her horrific dream seeped free, and her tummy tangled, recalling his gentleness. There hadn’t been any sign of the cold immortal she knew.
He wasn’t so cold when he kissed you, either.
Ugh, she shut out the thought. But wariness took hold, knowing he’d seen the ruby nodes on her chest. Since she was still breathing, he probably thought they were body studs. Relieved, she slung her backpack over one shoulder, tied her denim jacket around her waist, and trudged out of the basement, locking up behind her.
With the remnants of her nightmares clinging to her, she rubbed her achy temple and skirted the broken pillars, only to crash into granite. Darn it, she reared back and bit off a groan, her gaze colliding with ice-green eyes—the hard imprint of his body burning into hers. Awareness deepened, but reflex had her scowling.
His stare skimmed over her face. “You okay? Slept better?”
She blinked, then understanding pinged. “You—” She thumped his chest with both palms, finding it hard to swallow past the lump of terror stuck in her throat. “You sent me to sleep for hours—” Trapped me in a nightmare. “How could you?”
He grasped her hands. “You were restless. You needed the help.” His thumb gently stroked her skin. “And I gave it.”
“Did you consider that while I lay there asleep and helpless, anyone could have broken in, like that jerk, Rough—”
; “I’ve already dealt with him,” he said, tone like razors, hauling her out of her panic. “I left Eddi in charge until my return.”
“I was here, lass,” Eddi added, coming up behind her.
They were friends now?
She glared at Eddi who nodded, then focused on the maddening immortal who sported an inflexible look. No, she wasn’t going to win this argument. Argh. She yanked free of his hold and stomped off, clenching and unclenching her fingers, his touch searing her skin, her anger deflating like a balloon.
“Has a bit of a temper,” Eddi’s low voice drifted to her. “But she’ll be okay after a bit.”
Gee, thanks, Eddi.
Her arms wrapped around her waist, Shadow detoured from her usual getaway manhole and stomped off toward The Refuge, bypassing the massive pillars and mossy archways. Most of the homeless had gone topside. A few lingered, keeping an eye on their possessions.
The demon, Laex, sat near the fire in the drum and glanced up as she walked over. Something flashed briefly in his dark gaze before he lowered his head. Wariness? Dislike? She couldn’t blame him for his caution.
“Hey,” she said, stopping opposite him. “I’m looking for someone—a woman. Dark skin, long spiral hair—about my height? Her name’s Joyce. You seen her?”
“No.” Laex shook his head and continued poking a wire at the burning wood. “I haven’t seen her since last night.”
Damn. “Thanks.”
Frustrated, Shadow shoved her hand into her jeans pocket and continued towards the tunnel.
A moment later, Nik joined her. His gut-churning male scent of stormy nights and cedar crowding her senses. His silent presence had her feeling as if fire ants were crawling beneath her skin. And memories of his kiss flooded her mind.
Oh, man, she bit her lip and lowered her head, willing her blush to fade. This wasn’t good.
She had to block him out. But with him stuck to her side like duct tape, it was difficult to forget his mouth on hers, the weight of his muscular body atop hers, or the hard bar of his cock pressing against her core…
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