by Laura Kaye
“Now you know how demons used to find mates in the forest, I take it.”
“Yes.” He ran his fingers along her jaw. “I’d just figured I was some sort of ridiculous sap. I did my best to keep it hidden.”
She laughed, more from warmth than amusement. “Empathic traits are a strength, not a weakness. If anything, to be honest, it scares me.”
“Why?”
“If we spend enough time together, you’ll be able to read every emotion I have. I won’t be able to hide anything from you.”
“And what would you hide from me, Lexine?”
That I want you even though I know I can’t keep you.
He let her off the hook. “I’m off training until noon today, and there’s something I need to do. I’d love some company, if you’d be willing to join me.”
“Of course.” She couldn’t suppress a wide smile. “I just need to stop by my apartment first.”
“Sure.” He offered his elbow.
She threaded her arm through his with a shiver. The solid feel of him—compounded by the Guardian black and the distinct feel of a concealed blade above his wrist—invited her to melt into his touch. And she happily did so.
Lexine, this is very, very bad.
Chapter Fifteen
Jett wandered around the winery building. The place wasn’t the best choice for Lexine, away from the rest of the colony and so near the woods humans could sneak through. Granted, the archangels were just as isolated, but they had twenty-four-hour protection. Lexine did not.
He suppressed a growl. The place made her smile and lightened her step. Her excitement as she’d spoken about winemaking had been infectious. Instead of dragging her back to a safer place, he’d find a way to make the location more secure.
A hundred security cameras, a twenty-foot wall, and a moat would be a good start.
As Lexine rushed up the stairs, the paper around the bundle in her arms shifted, revealing black lace that, if worn, wouldn’t conceal a damned thing. She paused, met his gaze, and grinned before disappearing. He stared after her, frozen in place.
Suddenly, the last thing he wanted to do was go out. He didn’t want to dive any deeper into his past for now. He wanted Lexine his arms.
Would she be willing to go further than they had yes-terday?
He climbed the stairs, but before the room above came into view, he tapped his knuckles against the wall. “May I see?”
Part of him meant the room. Most of him meant the black lace.
“One second.”
He stood on the stairs, listening as her footsteps padded across the floor, then silence. What was she doing? Agonizing seconds turned into minutes of torture, until finally she called out again. “Okay.”
He climbed the remaining stairs. Light from a golden sunrise invaded through the picture window and spilled across the floor. Lexine stood in the middle of the room, her near-black hair loose from her usual braid, brushed to a shine, and pulled forward over her right shoulder, leaving a view of the tantalizing curve of her neck. Thin black lace veiled her body, revealing more than it concealed, tinged with gold from the sunrise.
“What do you think?” Though her fingers curled in nervous fists, she twisted at the waist, making the lace ripple around her hips.
“I’m afraid I can’t think at all.”
“That sounds like a good thing.”
“Debatable.” He halved the distance between them and circled her. Taking in the view from behind, which featured the bare skin of her back and only the thinnest scrap of lace over her bottom, he said, his voice thick, “I think it’s a very bad thing. I’m not going to be able to behave myself.”
“Well, I didn’t put this on to encourage you to behave.”
He strode forward and kissed her nape, his hands closing over her hips. The heat of her skin through the thin veil seared his hands, driving him to get closer. He reached around and touched her belly, molding himself to her back.
Her head tipped to rest on his shoulder, and he kissed the exposed side of her neck. He squeezed her body, needing her closer, needing to have her the way he’d envisioned when Minnie had taken away all his worries, all his baggage. He wanted to love her until the world faded away with his own actions.
She turned around in his arms, unzipped his jacket, and stripped him down to his skintight black shirt. Her face paled as her gaze wandered over him. Unlike when they’d hiked out to his camp in the woods, when he’d only taken a few items, his full arsenal of weaponry clung to his body. Blades on his arms and hips. Throwing knives sheathed around his chest and his middle. A gun strapped to his back.
A protector and a killer. She knew that, but what did she really think, seeing him this way? Her pulse ticked at a rapid pace at the base of her throat. Did she fear him? He shut his eyes, seeking out the place in his mind that he so often tried to ignore.
There. The intrusive sense of emotions in his head that weren’t his own. Not as strong as with the archangels, but discernible.
No fear, not even a hint of it. Instead, a thrill. A shadow of guilt.
“You like seeing me decked out like this.” He opened his eyes and studied her face. “But you don’t think you should.”
A blush rose to her cheeks, and she dropped her gaze.
“Too late to be shy.”
She lifted her chin. “I respect what you do.”
“I appreciate that, but tell me all of it, Lex.”
Her lips compressed into a scowl. He lowered his head and kissed her, forcing those lips open again with his tongue. “Tell me.”
“You make me feel safe.”
“And?”
She squirmed. “And it’s an insane turn-on, okay?”
He chuckled. “Good.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“It would bother me if I had to worry about frightening you. This is what I’m trying to become, after all.”
She put her hands on him then, her fingers making hot trails down his chest, between the throwing blades to the hem of his pants. “It’s not the weapons. It’s the wielder.”
He lifted her at the waist and set her down on the edge of the bed. Kneeling before her, he unfastened the throwing blades first, then the gun, then the fighting knives, and set them all on the floor. He removed the smaller blades from his arms last.
“That all of it?” Her voice held false shock as she smiled at him.
He scratched his chin in mock consideration, stood, and pulled the additional set of throwing blades from his boots. “I think that about covers it.”
She laughed.
He pulled off his shirt, watching her watch him. Leaning back on her elbows, she rubbed her legs together and fidgeted with the blanket. Her large amber eyes dominated her face and wisps of her black hair fell across her cheek. He couldn’t imagine a more beautiful female.
Plenty of striking women lived in the colony. None of them drew him in as Lexine did.
Flames coating her hands, she sat up and pulled him forward to stand between her knees. The additional heat from the fire sank into his skin as she touched him. She added her lips to the caress as she worked over his chest and stomach.
He’d been touched a hell of a lot in his life. Never before Lex had he enjoyed it. A light growl filled his throat as her hands traveled lower.
She got to her feet, one hand at the button of his pants, the other at the small of his back.
A belated thought invaded the moment. “I don’t have any protection.”
“There are no diseases in the demon population, and I can’t get pregnant unless you bite me. A male’s venom in the bloodstream is needed to make a female fertile.” She arched an eyebrow. “And you can’t bite me, anyway, remember?”
“I see.” The words escaped his lips in a heavy sigh as she released the button and the zipper.
Her lips curved in a wicked smile. “I might bite you, however.”
He kicked off his boots, shoved his pants and boxers off. Pulling t
he black lace over her head and seeing her body fully revealed, he could barely breathe. He guided her down onto the bed with him.
…
Lexine’s back hit the cool quilt as Jett straddled her. He bent, licking and kissing her throat, working his way down to her breasts. When he covered her left nipple with his mouth, she cried out.
He’d admitted yesterday that he was a virgin, but he certainly didn’t fumble around like one. No surprise. He wasn’t the fumbling sort, not in any aspect of his life that she’d seen.
He switched to the other breast and his fingers found her most sensitive flesh. She arched against him when he found the right spot, and he teased her until she struggled. He chuckled, a deep, husky sound, but otherwise ignored her protests and continued with his ministrations. With his knees on either side of her hips and his free hand on her shoulder, he held her down without effort.
Well, he’d asked for it. She lifted her head. Kissing him halfway between his wrist and his elbow, she scraped her fangs over the tender underside of his arm. She increased the pressure, piercing the skin the slightest bit. Pausing, she waited a moment for the venom to numb the spot. Then, she bit down, delivering what she knew to be a heady buzz, like the glow after doing shots of fine alcohol.
His body relaxed against hers and a flush rose to his cheeks, framed by his mussed, blond hair. She loved his hair, the way he wore it longer than most males. She released his arm and snatched a tissue from the bedside table to dab at the wound.
Jett planted his hands on either side of her head and kissed her. The sweet taste and scent of him consumed her senses. As he lingered at her mouth, she reached between them and stroked him. He sucked in a sharp breath, but she wove her fingers into his hair with her free hand to keep him near, returning his kisses, unable to get enough.
When he did lean away, her protest died on her lips. He repositioned himself between her thighs, explored her again for a moment with his fingers, and pushed himself into her center. He made love to her with deep strokes, each one deliberately drawn out. Holding her gaze, he drove her, slow and relentless. Speeding up would have been a mercy, but he gave her no break from the intensity. The muscles of his back flexed under her hands as he moved.
Savoring being pinned under him, surrounded by his warmth and weight and scent, she nipped at his shoulders.
He arched his back and tucked his head, taking her right nipple into his mouth, teasing the left with his fingers. He continued to move within her, and the combined sensations compounded the ache low in her belly. The perfect combi-nation of torments sent her over the edge, the orgasm ripping through her body until tears formed at the corners of her eyes and she fought to calm her breath.
Jett grinned down at her. Smug. Sinful. Pleased. And, even more handsome for it. She could live twenty demon lifetimes and not tire of that face and expression.
He claimed her mouth in another deep kiss and assumed a faster pace. Finishing, he wrapped his arms around her. After a moment, he lifted her, settling on his knees with her in his lap.
Holding her face in his hands, he stared at her and assumed a stern expression. “That’s what happens when I can’t think.”
“Mmm.” She kissed him. “I’ll be more careful in the future.”
“You better.”
“I’m thinking…red lace next time.”
He growled. “You’re going to get it.”
“Excellent.”
“Temptress.” He gave her tush a light smack.
She sucked in a sharp breath and did her best to look offended, but her laughter ruined the effect.
“Wait here.” He eased her back to the bed and got to his feet. “I’m not done with you yet.”
Chapter Sixteen
Jett dressed, tucked his weapons back into place, and bolted. He ran as fast as he could, which wasn’t much faster than before his training had begun. The lingering venom in his blood tempted him to lie down and nap, but first things first. Ignoring the paths, he traveled in a straight line through the forest to The Ninth Circle.
He’d never been intimate with a woman before, and he refused to leave it at the act. He needed to draw the encounter out, make sure she knew he hadn’t just needed an itch scratched, that they were just getting started.
The tavern he’d frequented since he’d started training had food out twenty-four hours a day and damned good food at that. He might not have survived Devin’s training, and the awful protein bars the Guardian seemed to live on, without the occasional couple minutes of respite he found inside.
“Morning, Guardian.” Gory, the proprietor, glanced up from filling the display of muffins. The redhead wore jeans and a bright red shirt with a grinning devil cartoon on the back. The elaborate art depicted a massive horned beast with salvia dripping from its jowls.
“Morning. Nice shirt.”
“Isn’t it awesome? Dana’s human mate went to Burlington last week and picked it out for me.”
Jett shook his head chuckled. After listening for years to Lawrence’s preaching, Gory’s humor over the demon stereotype was a welcome change of pace.
“Any chance you have a box I can use?”
“To carry food?”
“Yeah.” Jett scratched behind his ear. “Big enough for two portions.”
A knowing grin stretched across Glory’s face. “Ah, yes. Lexine. You two looked cozy in here the other day. Now, breakfast delivery? Man, you’re whipped.”
“Box, Gory.”
Laughing, the other demon headed through an archway into the back room. Jett filled two plates with scrambled eggs, hash browns, and bacon.
“Here.” Gory came back with a tray-like box and a mason jar full of orange juice. “Don’t have any cups with lids.”
“This is perfect. Thank you much.” Jett tucked the plates, jar, two glasses, and forks into the box.
“You take care of that female now. She deserves someone decent, especially after last time.”
“Last time?” Jett paused at the door.
Gory shoved his hands in his pockets. “She got quite serious with a male about a year back. She’s always seemed overeager for a mate, but that’s none of my business. Anyway, the guy is one of those charming dicks who gets bored with a female before long and moves on to the next. And the next and the next. I don’t know why the girls didn’t get together and throw him in the lake.”
“His name?”
Gory smiled, showing his fangs. “While I would sanction his bloody murder at your hands, sorry, Leigh moved to Eden after he ditched Lexine. Guess he ran out of willing females here.” He wrinkled his nose. “He had the gall to tell Lexine her eyes made her unworthy of being anyone’s mate.”
Jett nearly dropped the box. “Her eyes?”
“Her lack of night vision. He said she should be cast out of the gene pool. Lexi isn’t a victim-minded female, however. Leigh walked away from that conversation with a bloodied nose and she walked away with her chin high.”
“How do you know about this?”
“I’m her cousin, and The Ninth Circle tends to be a gossip hub, for better or for worse. So, you see, you need to treat her good. If you hurt her, cliché dictates that I’ll have to attempt to kick your ass. Since you’d crush me into a bloody pulp, I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Jett smiled. “Noted. See you around, Gory.”
“And remember to bring those dishes back!”
Jett balanced the food and hurried back to the orchard, the flood of anger in his system powering him up the hill in stride. How dare that son-of-a-bitch Leigh treat Lexine that way? Lexine was smart enough to see a bastard like that coming. Why had she dated him in the first place?
Lexine had said she’d tried to dodge the fate in her recurring dreams by dating. He couldn’t fault her. Even a less-than-perfect mating to a demon would’ve been preferable to a mating with a poacher. Jett had nearly bitten her with that in mind. However, Lexine deserved a good mate. It was everyone else who didn’t deserve
her.
If anyone was worthy of her, Jett was not among their number. He wouldn’t kid himself. If he completed the training and officially became a dedicated Guardian to Raphael’s family, he wouldn’t have time for more than an occasional fling. If that. To be deserving of that female, he’d have to set Raphael’s request aside and put Lexine first.
Did he want that? The idea of becoming a Guardian gave him purpose, filled a need he barely understood. Lexine gave him…she gave him the enjoyment of living in a given moment.
He paused outside the winery, his head resting against the wooden door. Perhaps free will wasn’t so wonderful, after all. Being free to choose didn’t make the choices easy.
Balancing the food with one arm, he lifted his fingers to the gold G on his collar. He’d hate to back out now, but he couldn’t allow Lex to end up with a poacher. What sort of Guardian would he be if he allowed such a thing, anyway?
He wouldn’t tolerate her mating someone like Leigh, either.
On one hand, it wasn’t a decision to make hastily. On the other hand, he couldn’t waste Lark’s time when he carried a reservation like this. He’d talk to the Guardian that afternoon, get a feel for his opinion. Jett couldn’t disclose Lexine’s dreams and betray her trust, but taking or not taking a mate was no small issue itself. Hopefully, Lark would be willing to discuss the topic. Something had happened between him and a female at some point, and he clearly carried a lingering wound associated with her.
Jett opened the door and went upstairs.
Eyes closed, Lexine lay in bed, the embroidered blanket covering her lower half. Her head rested on her outstretched arm and her loose hair draped over the edge of the bed.
He ran his tongue over his fangs. “Hello, beauty.”
“Hey.” She opened her eyes and sat up. “Is that bacon?”
“You bet.”
He joined her on the bed, smoothed the blanket, and laid out the plates. Drawn in, he caught her mouth in kiss.
“Where was it you wanted to take me this morning? Before we got sidetracked.” Lexine went for the bacon first, shutting her eyes as she bit off a piece.
“My father’s office in the town hall. It’ll be my first time there.”