Or maybe you’re just starving and he’s a yummy snack.
Amara carefully crossed her legs, all too aware of how few clothes she wore. Not such a big deal when she was hunting down an assignment in a darkened club. Less than ideal, however, in a lit room occupied by Ronin and his brothers.
Ronin speared her with an intense gaze. “Amara.”
She feared those eyes of his might talk her into doing anything. Breathing in deeply, she confessed every sordid detail. “I really don’t know what he’s doing. He gives us assignments. Men we’re supposed to seduce. I don’t know how or why he picks them, but he’s found a way to take in the energy we absorb from our assignments.”
That got their attention.
“Why would he do that?” Keegan asked.
“How does he do it?” Ronin added.
How?
“Guess,” she said wryly.
She saw the moment Ronin caught her drift. Unmistakable anger sparked in his eyes.
“Wait a second.” Keegan stood in front of the round table and leaned against it. “You’re saying that Asmodeus has you seduce men in order to absorb their energy, and then uses sex to transfer that energy from you to him?”
“What the hell?” Dagan’s brows knitted together.
Amara shrugged. “I don’t know what his agenda is.”
“If Asmodeus has figured out a way to absorb the life force you take, who knows what he might have learned to do with it?” Keegan said.
That was the very thing she feared. Asmodeus did nothing without reason. What acts was she helping him commit?
Ronin shook his head. “I don’t understand. Why?”
“Things aren’t always clear-cut. I thought you’d know that, being a demon yourself.”
His eyes dropped to his clasped hands and he practically whispered, “How many men have you killed for him?”
Although it was clear he didn’t really want to know, she wasn’t about to hide it from him. “Dozens over the past several months. All different types of Otherworlders: fae, vampire, shifters.”
“Dozens?” Keegan said in a strangled voice.
Amara ignored him, keeping her sights set on Ronin. He swallowed hard, but he betrayed no other emotion. Whether that was good or bad, she didn’t know. Part of her wished she’d lied to him, told him there were only a few victims. Maybe then he wouldn’t hate her quite so much. But if the Council had discovered Asmodeus’s crimes, they would figure out how many men were involved sooner or later. Lying would only delay the inevitable.
Better he knows now what a monster I am.
Though he still didn’t know why.
“Um...anyone else see a correlation between her timeline for killing all these dudes and the drop-off in steady work?” Dagan asked.
Amara opened her mouth to ask what he meant, but Ronin stood before she could. “How long have you been working for Asmodeus?”
“A little over six months.”
Ronin turned to pace the room. “Is there any pattern between the men you’re assigned?”
“Not that I could see. Although...”
Ronin stopped. “What?”
“They were all powerful and successful among their kind. Gifted in some way.”
“Maybe Asmodeus has been cleaning up the streets,” Dagan said. When Amara gave him a blank look, he explained, “We’ve experienced a decrease in bad guys to catch. What if he’s targeting fugitives?”
Asmodeus? Catching fugitives? The thought was ridiculous. She shook her head. “No. No, if Asmodeus is cleaning up the street, as you say, then it has to be accidental. He doesn’t have an altruistic bone in his body.”
“You’re certain?” Dagan asked.
“Not a doubt in my mind.” A man who could rape, torture, and kill without losing a second of sleep wouldn’t give a damn about how many other bad guys were out there.
“So then we’re left with him targeting men for their power,” Keegan said.
“As best I can figure.” When no one said anything further, she asked Ronin, “Are you the ones who will capture Asmodeus?”
It was Keegan who answered. “Yes.”
She nodded. “I trust you’ve found a way around his shield, then.”
“No.”
“No?” She sat forward, a hint of panic stirring in her stomach. “Then how are you going to get to him? There aren’t many hours left until daylight, and it will be a nightmare to take him into custody during the day with all the humans around.”
“You misunderstand.” Keegan raked a hand through his hair. “We’re not moving forward immediately.”
“What?” A sharp ache hit her chest and she placed her shaky hand over her heart. It raced at triple speed, forcing her to suck in every breath. She stood, the panic bordering on hysteria now. “How long do you plan on waiting?”
Ronin came to a stop in front of her, towering over her. “As long as it takes for us to figure out exactly what he’s up to.”
“No.” No. She couldn’t leave Asmodeus alone with her. He’d kill her. Or worse.
“I have to go.” Amara brushed past Ronin, racing toward the door. She managed to make it halfway there before Keegan grabbed her arm and jerked her around. He wrapped his other hand around her shoulder.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Let me go—”
“Back the fuck off,” Ronin snarled, elbowing him out of the way. He closed his hands over her shoulders far more gently than his brother had. His face radiated calm and, amazingly, she relaxed into his touch. “You okay?”
“Yes.” Her heartbeat slowed to a more manageable pace and a cool rush of energy spread throughout her body, loosening her muscles. Amara stared at Ronin. “What are you doing to me?”
He stilled. “What do you mean?”
“I...nothing.” It had to be her, not him, and she didn’t want him to know her reaction to him was so strong.
“Listen,” Ronin said, “I want to know why the thought of Asmodeus staying free sent you running.”
His gorgeous eyes bored into her, as if willing her to reveal all her secrets. And to her surprise, she wanted to. Even though something about him made her long to confide in him, she couldn’t reveal the whole truth. Not right now. Not to him. Mostly because she didn’t think he’d understand. But also because she was ashamed.
“He’ll be so angry when morning comes and I haven’t returned,” she found herself whispering. That much was the truth.
Ronin set his jaw. “So what? Is he really so important to you that you’d care about something like that?”
If she didn’t know better, she’d say he sounded jealous. Could he actually have feelings for her beyond disgust?
“You don’t understand. I’m tied to him in ways I have no control over. There’s no telling what the consequences will be if I fail to return.”
He stared at her for a long moment before shaking his head. “I don’t know if I can believe a word you say.”
Dagan stood and walked toward them. “There’s one way we can know for sure.”
A frown crept to Ronin’s face, but he nodded.
Keegan pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, pressed a button, and held the phone up to his ear. “Taeg, we’re back at Ronin’s apartment with the succubus...Yeah, we need you to come do your thing...I know. Hurry.”
When Keegan hung the phone up, a sense of profound uneasiness slithered up Amara’s spine. “What are you going to do?”
Ronin let go of her shoulders. “Find out how much you really know.”
Tension crept back into her neck, though not as fierce as before. They weren’t going to let her go. Shit. Amara turned on her heel and headed back to the couch.
Dagan sighed and stopped in fron
t of the glass door leading out to the terrace. “Damn, I wish Taeg could still flash.”
Flash? He was fae? Dread tightened her chest. If he was fae, she would have no secrets. He would be able to charm them all out of her. She couldn’t run, and her powers of seduction wouldn’t work on all three of them.
Dagan headed to the bar and poured multiple glasses of liquor, while Ronin returned to the chair nearest the couch. He kept his eyes averted.
How had he survived her touch, when no other non-incubus had? She wanted to ask him, but somehow it seemed wrong when his brothers were around. Instead, she contented herself with studying his face and the strong curve of his jaw. He was so beautiful, more so than she’d remembered.
When a long hank of hair fell down to cover one of his eyes, she imagined how it would feel were she to smooth it back. Soft and sleek, yet unyielding. Like him. But she didn’t touch him, of course. Not when Dagan watched her through narrowed eyes, like he’d pounce if she made one bad move.
Finally, keys jingled outside the door and the lock turned. When the man walked from the foyer into the living room, she stood in openmouthed shock. Given his appearance, he was one of their brothers. He caught sight of her and a flash of red lit his eyes.
I thought they said he could charm? How could he do that if he was a demon?
Suddenly, it all fell into place. Now the strange energy she’d felt from them, from Ronin on the night they’d met, made sense.
“You’re all half-breeds.”
Rare, but not unheard of.
“I prefer the term hybrid.” The newcomer scowled, his nostrils flaring. He cocked a brow in Ronin’s direction. “I take it this is the succu-bitch who drained you last month?”
“Taeg.” Ronin infused a note of warning into his voice.
Taeg turned to Keegan. “What’s her story?”
“She says Asmodeus absorbs the energy they take from their victims, but she claims she doesn’t know why or what he does with it.”
“Yeah, like I believe that.” He stomped toward her, and Amara fought the urge to shrink away at the loathing on his face. When his hands closed around her bare arms, it was with obvious distaste. He kept her at arm’s length, as if he would love to push her away at the earliest opportunity.
Ronin stalked toward them, his mouth set into a tight line. “Taeg.”
Taeg snarled back before loosening his grip.
With a muttered oath, Ronin backed off.
Taeg’s eyes, glamoured a similar color to Ronin’s, locked in on her and his irises started to swirl. A sensation of compulsion washed through her, making her powerless to turn away, to do anything other than await his command.
“Why is Asmodeus murdering Others?” he asked.
Easy enough. Her response tore out of her without any say on her part. “I don’t know.”
Taeg ignored Keegan’s curse and continued. “How does he pick his victims?”
“I don’t know.”
“What does he do with the energy you get from your victims?”
“He absorbs it. What he does from there, I don’t know.”
“Shit.” Taeg’s fingers dug into her flesh. “What do you know?”
“Nothing more than what I’ve told you,” she said.
Ronin stopped his pacing. “Why are you helping him?”
She licked her dry lips. The urge to focus on Ronin practically overwhelmed her, yet she couldn’t. Her eyes were stuck to his brother’s.
When she didn’t respond, Taeg repeated the question. This time, she couldn’t refuse to answer. However, that didn’t mean she was required to give him all of her reasons.
“Because I agreed to.”
There it was again, the disgust. “Don’t you care that innocent lives are being taken?”
“Of course I do,” she said. Oh, hell. Maybe she should simply tell them. But her heart rebelled at having to share that story. She’d made so many mistakes, and the truth hurt too much. Ultimately, it was all her fault.
“Then why?” Taeg asked. “Why help him?”
She settled for another truth. “Once I agreed, I couldn’t take it back. He owns me now.”
Taeg’s jaw dropped, and out of the corner of her eye she noticed Ronin standing stock-still. “He owns you?”
“Yes.” In every way that counted.
His grip loosened, and for one moment she thought he’d draw away. But then he tightened his grip once again, unmistakable fury lighting his gaze. “How did Asmodeus discover Ronin? Why did he pick him as a victim?”
“He didn’t.” When she felt a sting behind her eyelids, she furiously blinked it back. “He was a mistake.”
“A mistake?” Taeg repeated the words as if they were unfamiliar to him. “What does that mean?”
“I hadn’t been allowed to feed in days, and he was so...” Delicious, irresistible, heartbreakingly gorgeous. “I couldn’t resist.”
Taeg’s eyes went wide. He released her, breaking the compulsion.
Amara turned to see the expression on Ronin’s face. In a word, it was scary. His eyes had narrowed on her and his jaw was clenched. He swallowed hard, once.
A sudden trickle of fear, intertwined with her relentless lust for him, sent a shudder through her. He was furious with her.
When he opened his mouth, it was to bark, “Everyone get out.”
Chapter Six
A long beat of shocked silence followed Ronin’s directive. He tore his gaze away from Amara and turned to his brothers. “I said leave.”
Taeg snorted. “Are you fucked in the head?”
“That sums up my train of thought.” Dagan pressed his lips into a tight frown.
“We already know what she knows, which isn’t much. There isn’t any point in questioning her further.”
“That doesn’t mean we’re going to leave her alone with you,” Keegan bit out.
“There are some things we need to talk about.” And they needed to be alone to do it.
Dagan laughed. “Remember what happened the last time you two talked alone? Not sure you could survive a second time.”
“That won’t happen again.” Yet even as he said it, Ronin wondered how the hell he’d be able to keep his hands off her. She was close to irresistible. In fact, he found it strange his brothers didn’t seem affected by her the way he was. Maybe it was because they knew she’d almost cost him his life. He supposed the knowledge of that should dampen his arousal, too, yet somehow it didn’t.
“We’re not leaving,” Keegan said. “Get used to it.”
Ronin glared at him, but when it became obvious Keegan wasn’t budging, he snapped, “Fine.”
He crossed over to Amara in three long strides and grasped her wrist. A spark of electricity zinged up his fingers, but then his flesh made contact with the metal band clamped around her arm—ice-cold and unpleasant to the touch, it dampened his lust. “Come on.”
Her high heels clicked along the wooden floor as she followed him through the living room. The rhythmic sound reminded him of how small and fragile she seemed. Her words from a few moments ago echoed in his ears.
He owns me.
What the fuck? How could someone own another person in this day and age?
“Ronin, no,” Keegan said.
Ronin ignored him. He led Amara down the hall and into his bedroom. After he closed the door, he locked it and leaned against it for good measure. In case his brothers tried to force their way inside.
She slipped her hand out of his and faced him head-on, her expressive brown eyes raking over him. When her full lips parted, his eyes were drawn to them.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
He forced his eyes back up. “What?”
“I said I’m sorry. About almost killing you. Th
at wasn’t my intent. Truly.”
“I know.” Well, he did now at least. “That doesn’t change the fact that you almost did. I still haven’t fully recovered.” He probably never would.
Her eyes squeezed shut. “I’m so, so sorry. I was on a scouting mission that night, and I hadn’t fed in quite some time. You were impossible to resist.”
He should turn her over to the Council. Wash his hands of her entirely. Something told him he would have a hard time keeping his distance, and that was dangerous for so many reasons. Not solely because of what she was, but also because of what he’d been through.
Yet another woman who would ultimately be torn from him by circumstances beyond his control. How many people could a man lose without going insane?
He needed to stay away from her. To let her go. In fact, he should hate her for what she’d done to him, for what she’d taken from him. Instead, he instinctively longed to protect her. He was treading dangerous ground here.
“Why me, of all people?”
She blinked at him. “What do you mean?”
“Why did you choose me out of all the men in that club?”
“I...don’t know.”
That answer wasn’t good enough. “I’m so what?”
Her brow wrinkled. “What?”
“Back in the living room. Before you said you couldn’t resist, you said that I was so...you cut off before finishing. What was I?”
Amara gave him a half smile. “Too decent for me. I should have left you alone.”
Unable to help himself, Ronin reached out and traced her full lips. She lost her smile, her mouth trembling at his touch. “You said that at the club. But I don’t think that’s what you were referring to.”
“No.”
She shifted her head and his fingers fell to her neck. He stroked the tender flesh of her throat before forcing her to meet his eyes. “So what then? What did you think of me?”
A deep sigh lifted her chest, and it took everything he had not to drop his gaze. Damn but she turned him on. Partly because of what she was. But even more because of who she was. Something about her called to him. This wasn’t good. Yet he couldn’t stop himself from engaging her.
Touch of the Angel (Demons of Infernum, #3) Page 7