by Rose Haven
“Yes, beautiful.” The wound stopped bleeding and started to close.
“The others are staring at me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“They know you’re my Coyquiha.”
She gripped his shoulders as he carefully pulled her up. “What does that mean?”
“It means that I love you. Forever.”
Her mouth dropped open, and she stared at him. “You do?”
“I do.” His heart raced. What if she didn’t return his feelings?
She licked her lips and stared at the others nervously. “Are they going to kill me?”
Damien laughed. “If a man is cursed with a Coyquiha, he deserves to suffer the consequences.” He turned. “Good job, brothers. Let’s go home.”
One by one, they filed out. Sierra looked nervously at the bodies. “That’s a lot of blood.”
He tipped her chin to stare at her. “Do you love me, Sierra?”
She laughed shortly. “I’m standing ankle deep in blood and corpses. Is this really the time and place?”
“Yes.”
She took a deep breath.
“I’ve been trained to kill your kind since birth, but I feel different around you. I feel whole and alive. I thought it was just the sex, but it’s not. It’s you. It’s everything about you. I love you, Preston Wellington. I love your demon and your human half.”
Her confession shook him to the core, and he enveloped her in a slow and long kiss.
“Preston?” she murmured.
“Hmm?”
“I love you, but if you try to seduce me among all these dead bodies, I may never speak to you again.”
“Shit.” He broke away. “Sorry. Come home with me?”
She took his hand. “There’s no place I’d rather be.”
As they walked out of the house, a sudden thought struck him. “Is your father going to kill me when I ask for your hand in marriage?”
“Probably.”
“Hm. That’s going to be a tough barrier to break down.”
“Preston?”
“Hmm.”
“We’re no longer ankle deep in corpses.”
He looked down and saw the desire in her eyes. “Sierra, we’re in the front yard of some stranger’s house,” but he was already erect.
She drew him into the shadows and dropped to her knees. “I want you.”
And as she unzipped his pants and bared stiff member, he hissed. She wrapped her lips around him, and he knew he’d give his life to protect her.
His huntress.
His lover.
His love.
THE END
Demon Romance
Singed Blood
Submission to the Dark Forbidden Mate Series Book Two
Lucile Wild
Demon Romance: Singed Blood
Chapter One
Lana checked the clock impatiently. The show was running behind, and now instead of leaving at one, like she’d planned, she would be leaving closer to one-thirty. She could cut her dance short, but management wouldn’t be happy.
Poppy music pumped through the speakers, and the neon lights slashed through the darkness as the two girls finished up their routine. One swung high on the pole, her blonde hair flying, and the other swung low. There were times when Lana saw the girls accidently kick or hit each other, but tonight? Tonight they were on point.
Finally, they both tumbled to the edge of the stage and waited patiently while men stuffed dollar bills into what was left of their clothes. When the lights dimmed, they collected the money tossed on the stage and exited.
“It’s a good crowd tonight,” the blonde panted. “You’re going to knock ‘em dead tonight, Lana.”
Lana frowned. “I don’t know. They seem more of a stripper crowd than entertainer crowd.”
“Doesn’t matter,” the brunette smiled. “You’re still the star.”
The lights went completely out, and the crowd, knowing what was coming next, settled down. Lana was grateful. Sometimes it was hard to capture their attention.
She adjusted her microphone and took a deep breath. It was show time.
Low sultry music serenated the room, and a single spotlight lit a small area. She pushed one long tanned leg out and stepped to the clicks of the music.
Click. Click. Click. Click.
“There’s something about the touch of your skin.”
Click. Click. Click.
“It sends shivers down to my every end.”
Click. Click.
“There’s something about the way that you smell.
Click.
Reaching the pole, she slid into the light. The men applauded as she finished the introduction to her song.
“But you don’t know that you’re playing with hell.” Her deep voice mesmerized the crowd, and she slid her hand tantalizingly over the pole. “You’re playing with hell.”
Gripping it tightly, she pulled herself up and swung around. Her dance movements were easy so she could still sing her song, but she knew that it wasn’t about the dance or her song or even her body.
It was how they all moved together.
“You think yourself a player, and you think that I’m the goal. But baby I’ve got you trapped in my hold. My body’s craving you, and I will not be denied, but this feeling inside me is something I just can’t abide.”
As she started the chorus, she slid down to the floor with her legs straight up in the air. “There’s something about the touch of your skin.” Her legs opened and straddled the pole. “It sends shivers to my every end.” Slowly, she arched her back and moved flat to the floor. “There’s something about the way that you smell.” She flipped herself over and crawled seductively to the men. “But you don’t know that you’re playing with hell.”
She shed her top layer and stood in a black bikini with silver chains running down her torso. The men whistled in appreciation, and money came flying to the stage.
“I’m drowning in your kiss, and I’m moaning at your touch. The release you’re giving me is just way too much. You think you’ve got me snared, but soon you’re gonna see. There isn’t an ounce of good in me.”
As the music pumped, she slid around the pole again, gyrating her hips to the beat and sending seductive looks out to the audience. She ran her hands over her body and licked her lips, and even though she couldn’t see their faces, she knew she had their attention. This was the best part of her dance. Lana held all of the power.
After several more minutes, she finished her routine on her back at the edge of the stage. Unlike the other girls, she was just out of reach of the men, and there were several bouncers watching to make sure none of the men climbed on the stage. As the lights went down, she hurriedly collected her money and exited to the left.
The final act was a compilation session of all the girls minus Lana. She gave them all high fives for good luck before hiding herself in the dressing room. Alone, she began peeling away her disguise.
Off came the platinum blond wig. Hidden under it was a mass of auburn curls that matched her dark Brazilian skin. She’d always thought the blonde was a bit much, but management had wanted it, and she had no problem hiding her identity.
Next, she shucked off her costume and stepped into her sweats. Although she worked hard to keep her body tight and toned, she was a girl of comfort at heart. Finally, she worked on removing the heavy make-up. Expertly applied face contouring hid the actual dimensions of her face, and by the time it was all over, plain Jane replaced the exotic dancer. Or rather, plain Lana.
Although the change was drastic, Lana was still beautiful. Her skin was smooth but a slightly freckled, and though her nose was a bit small, her eyes were large. Dark chocolate brown speckled with amber, her eyes were always the hardest part of her to hide when she was on stage. But, fortunately for her, most men weren’t looking at her eyes.
She’d shower all the glitter off when she got home. If she hurried now, she’d still manage to squeeze in four h
ours of sleep before her first class.
Graduate professors didn’t like to hear that students missed class because they were shaking their ass on stage the night before. So Lana made sure that her three shows a week didn’t impede on her school. The club paid her tuition, but her education was her passion.
She organized her money and carefully folded it up in her bag. After cleaning up her station, she swung her backpack on and got ready to sneak out the side. This was always the worst part. Even though she usually got out before the crowd, sometimes someone would linger by the exit hoping to get a glance at a stripper. And she did not want to get caught.
Cole rubbed a hand over his day old beard and sighed. The day from hell was finally winding down, and he’d be able to finally get some sleep. His shirt smelled like whiskey from the Jack Daniels bottle one perp had so graciously poured on him and cigarettes from his partner’s smoking habit. He’d tried to get Ashton to quit, but the old man just muttered that after forty years of smoking, he was hardly going to quit now.
Cole had quit after eighty years, but he wasn’t going to tell Ashton that. After all, Cole still looked like a man in his thirties. Sharing his body with demon blood will do that.
“Detective Shuster?”
Cole looked up wearily as their receptionist stuck her head in the door. “There’s a gentleman on the phone for you. I tried to tell him that you were off duty, but he was quite insistent.”
God. His eyes were so dry he thought they might fall out. “Thanks Nora,” he said as he cleared his throat. He picked up the phone. “Detective Shuster speaking,” he said hoarsely.
“You sound like shit, Cole.”
Cole sat up straight. “I feel like shit,” he told his boss. Cole might be a detective with a local PD, but his main job was with the Slavante Brotherhood, and Damien was their leader.
“Well, your day is about to get worse. There is a full moon tonight. It’s going to have to feed.”
“Fuck,” he growled. He was so caught up in his own case that he forgot about Cresher and Cresher’s new pet.
Cresher was, at one time, the leader of the Savante Brotherhood, an organization sworn to protect humanity against the dangers of hybrid-demons. As hybrids themselves, they stuck to the shadows keeping an eye on the city and still stay out of sight of demon hunters.
But Cresher had done more harm than good, and when Damien, his younger brother, finally stepped up the plate, the brotherhood kicked Cresher out. Damien should have killed Cresher, but he failed to finish the job. Now Cresher had resurrected a full-blooded demon, and just a month ago, the brotherhood was forced to destroy a nest of hybrids under the demon’s spell.
Cresher and the demon had escaped, and they had been oddly quiet the past few weeks.
“I need you to be first on the scene if an attack happens tonight. Can you pull out a few extra hours for me?” Damien asked.
A few extra hours? Cole had already put in twenty. “I can do it, but I’m not exactly running at my peak performance,” he muttered.
“I’ll make sure the area is patrolled with extra eyes, but I don’t want a human to get their hands on it.”
Damien was right. Without the nest, the demon would have to feed off a human during the full moon. If a human got their hands on the case, a lot of lives would be in jeopardy.
He pulled out his stash of five-hour energy drinks and knocked one back. “You’ve got four hours before they pull me for security reasons,” Cole muttered.
“I doubt it will even take two,” Damien hissed.
Cole hung up the phone and closed the file on his desk. The robbery didn’t seem nearly as important as the mass homicide that was about the take place.
At one time, demons walked the earth and coupled with humans in hopes to spread their own kind. Instead of more demons, they beget a population that carried the strength and power of a demon but was weakened by the lifespan and moral conscience of humanity. While some hybrids wish their full-blooded ancestors would walk the earth again, some hybrids chose to deny their demon existence completely. And when some hybrids searched for ways to call demons back to earth and enslave the human race, the Slavante Brotherhood was born. Most humans had no idea that demons even existed, and they were unable to protect themselves.
Preston, Damien’s second-hand-man, was out of town on his honeymoon. He’d found his Coyquiha in demon huntress Sierra Mason. It was an odd match, but Cole was happy for him. At one time, it was easy for a hybrid to find his one true love, but marriages weren’t as sacred now as they once were. Preston had been the first in decades for find his Coyquiha.
Cole had never married. His job required too much out of him, and he rarely had time for women anyways. It was easier to work alone, to be alone. And he supposed it would be that way until the day he died.
“Nora,” he called out. “I’m going out for a drive. Keep me on the dispatch list for the next four hours.”
She looked startled. “Detective Shuster? Surely you’d rather go to sleep!”
He shrugged. “I’m the only detective here, and there is a full moon. I have a bad feeling about tonight.”
“If you say so. I don’t know anyone who pulls the same hours as you.”
That was because the rest of the force was human.
Chapter Two
“Great show, Lana!”
She turned and smiled at the bouncer at the exit. He was a big burly man whose large biceps and dark skin presented a terrifying image, but he was a sweet man at heart, and he got a little too stressed out when it looked like he was going to have to use his muscles. In fact, he’d told her that it ruined his whole day. But he never hesitated to protect the girls, and of all the bouncers, Carl was Lana’s favorite.
“Thanks, Carl.” She moved her bag from one shoulder to another. Carl was one of the few people who actually knew what she looked like. She slipped in and got ready when most of the girls were dressing, so only the manager and Carl could say for sure that she had long dark curly hair or that her skin was actually a shade lighter than her make-up portrayed. That was how she liked it.
“Want me to walk you to your car?”
Lana shook her head. Carl wasn’t allowed to leave his post, but he always offered, and she always declined. She didn’t want the man to get in trouble on her account. “Nope. I’ve got my mace. I’m good.”
“See you next week?”
“I’ll be here.” She smiled as he poked his head outside to check the surrounding area. When he gave her the go ahead, she gave him a quick hug and slipped out the door.
The full moon lit her path, and Lana made her way steadily out the alley. To the left was a dead end, and the alley stretched on for a quarter of a mile before she could reach the parking lot in the back. She hated having to walk that long with only one exit, but many of the surrounding businesses had panic buttons displayed at their back doors in case anything happened.
She was just about to reach the intersection when she heard it. It sounded like someone gnawing on a bone. She froze and gripped her mace and her keys tighter. It wasn’t unusual for a homeless person to make this alley their home, but whatever she was hearing sounded large.
Too large to be human.
She started forward again, careful to make her footsteps as light as possible. The dim yellow glow of the streetlamp at the intersection cast a wide birth, and she felt a little better when she stepped into the glow.
But this thing didn’t fear the light, and as soon as she stepped into it, the gnawing stopped.
She whirled around, her heart in her throat.
An immense black shadow raced towards her, and she heard the loud piercing of a scream. Was that her? When it knocked into her, she fell back against the wall. Long claws gripped into her shoulder, and when she focused her eyes, she realized she was looking into the jaws of hell.
Christ, it almost looked human, but its eyes were growing bright red, and no human could open its jaws that wide. No human had teeth and n
ails that sharp.
And no human was that big.
She sprayed her mace into its mouth and eyes. It screamed and eased up on its hold. Gasping, she whirled around and hit the panic button. When it came back to attack her again, the back door swung open, and a man charged out. The being whirled around to grab it, but Lana pushed him inside and slammed the door shut.
“What the hell was that?” the man shouted. “
With shaking hands, she pulled out her phone and dialed nine-one-one. “Hello? Please help me. I’ve just been attacked.”
“By another person? Are you wounded?”
Lana swallowed hard. “I’m wounded, but it was no human. I don’t know what the hell it was.”
Lana was pressing the towel to the wound on her shoulder when a detective entered the bar. She hissed. She needed a paramedic, not a detective.
“Lana Delgado?” he asked as he approached her.
Her mouth went dry when she got a good look at him. Golden skin, dark brown hair that had flecks of red in it, beautiful light green eyes, and a beard that was at least a couple of days old. The initial attraction hit her hard and then curled inside her belly, but the continuous sting from the claw marks on her shoulder and chest distracted her. She nodded. “I’m Lana.”
“I’m Detective Cole Shuster.” He nodded at her wound. “May I?”
His touch sent shivers down her body, and she jerked away. “I’ll wait for the paramedics,” she murmured.”
He hesitated before pulling away. “I’ve walked through the alley. Whatever was there is gone. Can you walk me through what happened?”
He must have seen the flicker of fear in her eyes because he pulled out his gun. “I’m armed. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
She nodded her head. “The door is this way. One of the workers at the club came out to help me, but he took off after we got inside. Whatever it was really freaked him out. I didn’t even get his name.” She frowned. “He probably saved my life.”