Her brow furrowed. “What happened with you?”
“My mother escaped into the skies of Infernum, where he couldn’t reach her. After I was born, she never came back down.”
“Then how did you meet your brothers?”
This was where the story really got difficult. “When I was nine, I snuck down to the ground to play with some of my friends. It was forbidden, but we thought we were invincible, as nine-year-olds tend to do. We did it a handful of times over the span of a week. My father must have had spies, because the last time I did it, he was there waiting for me.”
Her body tensed. “What happened?”
His descent into hell.
An unexpected flashback seared his memory.
“Come on, this way,” his best friend yelled, racing after the two older angels who’d initiated the trip onto Infernum’s land. He moved to follow but something caught his eye, a pretty yellow flower growing out of the barren earth. How could it have survived for so long in such a stark environment?
For some reason it reminded him of Lina. Stubborn and unbending, like her. He squatted and snapped the stem. She’d been so worried when he left. Hopefully, this would appease her.
Before he could put the flower in his pocket, a hand closed around his arm. It sparked a tremor of foreboding in his body. He turned his head, and knew. This man, who so closely resembled him, was his father. A monster.
The man gave him a suave smile. “What’s your name?”
His instincts of preservation kicked in. Not for him, but for his mother. For Lina. He pressed his lips together and said nothing. The man noted it with a low laugh.
“Don’t want to share? No matter. I would have changed it anyway. From now on your name is...Ronin.”
He didn’t respond, and a flash of anger crossed the monster’s face. “What’s your name?”
“Ronin,” he bit out reluctantly.
“Very good. Now Ronin, my son, it’s far past time you came home with me.”
The horror of that statement flowed through his veins, paralyzing him. The flower he’d picked fell from his numb fingers, fluttering to the ground.
“Ronin?”
With a shake of his head, he came back to the present. Amara stared at him, her brow wrinkled in concern.
“Sorry. What happened is he grabbed me before I even noticed he was there. When I saw him, I knew who he was. Mother had repeatedly warned me about him. I knew what he was capable of. He took me back to his home, where I met my brothers. They were the only bright light in the years that followed.”
“Oh, Ronin.” She moved forward to press a soft kiss to his lips. The tight pressure in his chest eased. “You couldn’t fly away to escape him?”
If only. “He clipped my wings.”
And unlike the rest of his body, he couldn’t automatically heal his wings. He’d had to wait for them to grow back. “He did it continually for years. Until I no longer thought to run away. Until he’d beaten the fight out of me.”
Amara’s eyes darkened. “What happened to him?”
Ah well, at least that part made him smile. “We captured him a year ago after he turned on the Council and tried to take over Earth. He’s rotting in a Council prison now.”
“Good.”
The satisfaction in her voice lightened his heart. Renewed his drive to help her. She might be in a bad situation, but she was a good person. He felt it deep in his soul.
“Your turn,” he rumbled, stroking a hand through her long, silky hair. “Tell me about your childhood.”
Her eyes grew wide as she stared at him, obvious consternation on her face. She clearly didn’t want to talk about herself. About her mother. There was a story there, and he was willing to bet he knew where it lay.
“Tell me about your mother. Your relationship. Amara, how did she end up with Asmodeus?”
Chapter Eleven
What had Amara gotten herself into? Given all that he’d confessed to her, she supposed she should tell him something in return. But she’d never confided in anyone before, and part of her feared he would reject her once he knew more about her. Especially how Solara had ended up with Asmodeus.
He let out a husky laugh. “Didn’t expect that you’d have to share, too? Come on. What could be worse than what I told you?”
Oh, there were a few things.
Amara rose up on one elbow, using her hand to support her head. “I was born here in New York City. My mother fled Infernum after she got pregnant with me. She never said why but my guess is she ended up killing someone important. Growing up with her was...lonely.”
Ronin reached out and dragged her upper body atop him. The warmth of his bare chest penetrated the sheet separating them. He smoothed several strands of her hair out of her face. “Lonely how?”
“I never understood it until fairly recently, but I suppose she was on a never-ending pursuit for love. Being in love defined her. She was flirtatious to a fault. Desperate. And she fell in love far too easily. The problem was she ended up killing most of the men she fell for.”
He made a sound deep in his throat. “I can’t even imagine what that must feel like, knowing your touch is deadly to a great many people.”
No, he couldn’t. It was hell. Succubi didn’t get to fall in love. At least she’d learned that lesson far sooner than Solara had.
Except she hadn’t, had she? She was treading dangerous ground with Ronin. Letting him get close to her. That only led to heartache. But even though she knew she should tear herself away from him, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Not yet.
The man was far too comforting.
“How did Asmodeus get to her?” Ronin asked.
He hadn’t forgotten, like she’d hoped he would. But she couldn’t tell him the whole truth, her role in everything. He would hate her.
Amara concentrated on tracing her fingertip over the solid lines of muscle on his chest. Anything to keep from meeting his eyes. “When Solara met Asmodeus, she believed he was The One. A charming, handsome man who couldn’t die from her touch. She was in heaven.”
His chest rose and fell on his next breath. “He tricked her.”
“Yes,” she said bitterly. “She thought the gold band he offered her was a token of his appreciation, when really it was a trap. Once she’d bound herself to him, he forced her to feed on other men to satisfy his purposes. He...hurt her. Not only physically, but emotionally. Mentally.”
Ronin hooked a finger under her chin and forced her to meet his eyes. “You saved her.”
Yeah, right. She’d been responsible for the whole thing. But in the end, she had tried to save Solara. She was a failure even at that.
“I offered myself in exchange for her. She wasn’t the warmest or most caring mother, but she was the only one I’d ever known. I couldn’t leave her subject to his whims.”
His mouth tightened, but when he spoke his voice was soft. “What did he do?”
“He wouldn’t release her, no matter how much I bargained. The most I could get was his oath that if I bound myself to him, he would leave her alone. As long as I obeyed his commands, he wouldn’t touch her.”
Ronin stared into her eyes as if trying to see past her body and into her soul. “It seems to me you were both tricked. Why do you find this so shameful?”
A flush of heat spread through her body. He couldn’t know. She tried to push away from him, giving him only half the truth. “I was an idiot. I allowed him to use me in the most reprehensible of ways. I’m nothing more than a wh—”
“Brave.” His eyes blazed with emotion, and he caught her wrists, tugging her back to his chest. “You’re brave and caring, Amara. Don’t allow the machinations of one crazed lunatic to ever let you doubt yourself.”
Shocked at his words, she simply stared at him
for one long moment. There was no censure or judgment in his eyes. Relief spread through her, and the breath she held escaped her in one long exhalation.
“You’re a good man, Ronin.” Too good for me.
“And you’re a good woman.” His hand cupped her cheek and his eyes regarded her warmly. “Though you don’t seem to know it.”
If only that were true. She closed her fingers over the hand on her cheek and drew it away, pressing a soft kiss to his palm. When he let out a small shudder, she continued trailing kisses down his arm. “You’re sexy, too.”
“Mm?” was his response.
“Oh yes, most definitely.” Her hunger—which to her surprise had substantially eased with their earlier round of foreplay—reawakened, urging her to straddle him. To draw the hardness digging against her hip deep into her body. With great effort, she squelched it. He’d given her a gift by trying to comfort her, by doing all that he’d done for her this past day. She wanted to repay the favor.
But first, she wanted one more thing from him...
“Have I told you yet how amazing I find your body?”
His lips curved into a grin. “No.”
“Well, I do.” She touched her palm to his ridged pecs, and a hungry beat pulsed between her thighs. Swallowing a gasp, she squeezed her legs together and traced her fingertip around each of his nipples before bending and swirling her tongue around one of them.
“Amara.” Ronin’s hips jerked off the bed. “You’re driving me crazy.”
“That’s kind of the point.”
She took her time licking and sucking the rigid peaks, something he liked, if his muffled groans were any indication. When she slid her tongue down to his belly button, he closed his hands around her arms and yanked her upward. “What are you doing?”
Wasn’t it obvious? She gave him a sultry smile. “Will you do something for me?”
“What?” he said from behind half-lidded eyes.
She sat back, and the fabric of the sheet pooled down to her waist, leaving her breasts bare. His eyes lowered to them and stuck there. She had the sense then that she could have him if she wanted. Could have that glorious erection she’d spotted underneath the tented fabric of his bottoms deep inside her.
Do it, the succubus part of her urged. Feed.
But no. She would hold off if it killed her, and it might. This moment was about the mutual pleasure they could find in each other’s arms. Not about sustenance.
Deliberately, she let her hands travel down her chest. She cupped her breasts, squeezing and pressing them together before tugging on her nipples.
“You’re killing me,” Ronin groaned.
“Will you do something for me?” she repeated.
“What?” His voice cracked.
“Touch yourself.”
He stilled, his breath leaving his body in one big rush. His brows furrowed and an honest-to-goodness flush tinged his cheeks. His gaze traveled down to the impression of his erection through the fabric of his bottoms. “You want me to...?”
“Yes.” Oh, yes.
When, after a moment’s pause, his hands traveled to the drawstring of his pants, her body clenched in hunger. She put out a hand to stop him. “Wait.”
“What is it?”
“I think you need to tie me up first,” she said, her voice shaking.
A rumble built in his chest, manifesting itself as a growl that reverberated through her whole body. He flipped her on her back faster than she could blink, driving his tongue into her mouth with a delicious ferocity that left her gasping for breath. There was a tearing sound, and a second later he maneuvered her arms over her head and wound a ragged strip of cloth over them. Was that the sheet?
“Surely people will wonder about that one,” she gasped.
He ignored her as he tied the fabric to the metal slats of the bed. When he sat back, the savage expression on his face sent a shiver of anticipation through her body. Seeing it, he cocked a brow. “Still want it?”
“Yes, please.”
His tightly-knit abdominal muscles flexed as his fingers moved down to his drawstring. The heavy, jutting head of his erection was outlined through the straining fabric. She held her breath as he unknotted the strings. When he tugged the fabric down, a hungry whimper tore from her lips. He was so deliciously fuckable. How she longed to do just that. His hand closed around the thick head of his cock, and this time she didn’t bother to hold back the moan. Nostrils flaring, he moved his hand down, then up again, a clear drop of moisture forming at the tip. She licked her lips and he groaned.
“You like this,” he said, the words half question, half surprised musing.
“Of course I do.” The man was made to be stared at. Especially the thick, towering length of his arousal. Her allure blossomed and flowed outward, enveloping him with its thick heat. He groaned and his cock jerked in response. His free hand reached out and, with a quick tug, he pulled the sheet off her.
“What are you doing?” The knot he’d tied at her wrists was strong, but this fabric wouldn’t hold her if she became too crazed with desire. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Don’t worry. You won’t.”
She met his eyes. Though they were glazed with lust, he appeared to be in complete control of his senses. With a nod, she let herself relax.
“Good.” His muscles tensed and a pained sound escaped him. “Now spread your legs.”
A sound that was a cross between a moan and purr stuck in her throat. Slowly, she obeyed, reveling in the way his hungry gaze devoured her. He made a satisfied noise and brought his thumb down to stroke her clit. When she undulated against him, he slid one of his fingers inside her and gripped himself tighter, pumping his hand in time with the thrusting of his fingers. In no time at all another climax built up inside her, this one swift and furious. A kaleidoscope of colors washed over her vision, blinding her with their intensity. She cried out and he bent to swallow the sound. From the frantic movement of his hand, she knew he was close to his own release.
“Wait,” she whispered against his lips.
He sat back with visible effort, his brows furrowing.
“In my mouth.” When he stiffened and his jaw dropped, she added a trembling “Please.”
“Are you sure?”
In response, she licked her lips.
He groaned and rose on his knees, guiding his erection into her mouth. She closed her lips around the satiny flesh. The tangy essence of it reawakened her hunger. When the spot between her thighs pulsed, she crossed her legs and whimpered against the agonized clenching of her stomach.
Energy began to pulse off him in waves. To her surprise, it calmed the raging desires of her body. It soothed her so that, instead of focusing on her cravings, she could concentrate on fitting as much of him into her mouth as possible. He was so big and hot, and she could imagine him pumping into her body in the very way he now pumped into her mouth. She greedily devoured every inch she could take.
“Oh...yes.” He gripped her head, holding her in place as his climax ferociously tore through him. Held her immobile as his salty essence poured down her throat. She swallowed every delicious drop, and to her complete and utter amazement, another orgasm gripped her, building from the base of her spine and flooring her with its unexpected burst of power.
Ronin let go with a heavy gasp and sat back, stroking errant strands of hair out of her face. “You okay?”
Okay? For the first time in her life, she thought she might be.
Chapter Twelve
Belpheg exited his ritual chamber, where he’d spent the past hour meditating. He emerged far less centered than he would’ve liked. His hands trembled when a stray current of energy zapped his system. The thought that his body wouldn’t be able to withstand the depth of his power would have been laughabl
e a decade ago. Thankfully, he’d read the scrolls penned by his ancestors, the ones he’d managed to steal when the Council had decimated his entire clan. They warned of the instability that increased with age.
He’d painstakingly set his plan into motion, and he was so close to achieving victory, but Asmodeus was starting to trouble him. The incubus’s mental scars inhibited him. He was a potential liability.
If only Belpheg could rely on one of his other pawns to track down the brothers and absorb their energy. But he couldn’t. Asmodeus was the only one left who hadn’t obtained full power.
One way or another, the incubus had to take Mammon’s sons down. They were his surest bet to completing the circle. His well-being depended on it.
Belpheg did an about-face and reentered his ritual chamber. He would have to pay Asmodeus yet another astral visit, to impress upon him the importance of completing his task.
§
After a long night of blissful, dreamless sleep, Amara stretched and searched the room for Ronin. He was nowhere to be found, of course. He’d probably retreated to the living room sometime during the night. The memory of her time with him last night made her smile, but her joy was tinged with sadness.
She couldn’t stay here.
It had been nice to pretend for a short time that she had a different sort of life, but she couldn’t continue to do so any longer. Not when her happiness came at her mother’s expense. Hiding out here and praying that Ronin and his brothers would find a way to save Solara was no longer an option. Not when she could do something to resolve the situation.
And hadn’t she learned long ago not to rely on salvation that never came?
Last night, Maya and Brynn had helped her hang up the things they’d brought her in Ronin’s large closet. Part of her had found it secretly thrilling to have her clothing hanging right next to his. There was something so very domestic about it. For a short while, it had been easy to pretend this was another situation entirely. Like two lovers moving in together.
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