by Quinn Loftis
“My pleasure,” he said in that accent that was making her hormones do weird things to her body. It wasn’t British, maybe Irish? Was ‘sexy’ considered and accent?
There was a knock on the door and Serenity took a minute to look behind her and see how Dair was handling things but he wasn’t there. He must’ve left the room without her noticing. When she turned back around, the door was being pushed open and Dair was walking in. Judging by the doctor’s face, he could now see the Sandman just fine.
“Are you lost?” Dr. Michaels asked, sound a little bit hostile.
“Not in the least,” Dair said. “I was told this was where my fiancé was.”
So he’d gone from soon to be fiancé to actual fiancé. Dair must feel even more loathing for Dr. Michaels than he did for Dr. Lester.
“No one other than staff and patients are allowed in the testing areas.”
Dair didn’t look the least bit intimidated. “It looks like you’re done, and on your way out. So I won’t be hanging out in the off limits space. I can push her back to her room. He made a move to get behind me but Dr. Michaels didn’t move.
“Medical personnel are the only ones who are to transfer patients, I will have to do it.”
“Then I’ll just walk right alongside.” He looked down at her and smiled his sultry smile. “You doing okay?”
She nodded. She was okay, though she was concerned her boyfriend/fake fiancé was going to beat the crap out of Dr. Michaels at any moment.
Dr. Michaels pushed her back to her room before Dair could get between them he helped her into bed. As he picked up her legs to turn her and lay them on the bed, his hand slid down the back of her calf to her ankle. She shivered under his touch. “Cold?” He asked with a knowing smile.
Serenity shook her head. “No, nope, um, not cold.” Scorching hot, she thought, that’s what I am, I’m freaking scorching hot and I’m lusting after a man that is not Dair and I’m going to hell.
She glanced up at Dair and immediately wished she hadn’t. He was glaring daggers at the doctor.
Dr. Michaels chuckled. “I don’t think you will go to hell for such a small thing.”
Serenity’s hand flew to her mouth. “Did I just say all of that out loud?” She couldn’t look at Dair after that realization. In that moment she simply wanted the bed to eat her alive.
His smile was her answer. He sat on the side of the bed next to her, the place where Dair usually sat.
“You aren’t married to this man?” Dr. Michaels asked. Motioning towards Dair.
She shook her head. “No, but,” She looked at Dair and confusion set in. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Why wasn’t he dragging Dr. Michaels away from her? He looked as if he was about to commit murder. His hands were clenched at his sides and he was shaking with rage. He was leaning slightly forward as if he was pushing against something. Her eyes widened. Could he not move? That had to be it because there was no way Dair would just stand there and let the man sitting beside her act so familiar with her. In fact, why was she? His voice drew her eyes away from Dair and back to him.
“So he has no permanent claim on you as of yet?” He didn’t let her answer, but just kept talking in that incredible accent and sensual tone. “I would think that if you do not wear his ring and have not promised yourself to his bed alone, then you have the right to make sure he is the one you want to tie yourself to first. How better to do that than to try out other flavors? After all, how can you be sure that he’s what you want unless you rule out the others?”
Why did his words make perfect sense and yet at the same time Serenity felt as though she should be calling bullshit on the guy. But his smile was so sincere and his words weren’t ugly. He was simply asking how could she know if Dair was what she wanted if she didn’t make sure by trying out other guys, right? Could there really be any harm in that?
“Is Dair the only man you’ve been with?” Dr. Michaels asked.
Serenity seemed a bit taken aback by the forward question. “Why would you ask that?”
He smiled at her and leaned closer to whisper. “Because I must confess, I would like to know if I have any sort of chance at catching your eye. Perhaps if you’ve no experience with men, you might be willing to try out more than one.”
Try out more than one? Like a pair of shoes?
He chuckled. “Well, if you feel the need to wear me, I suppose we could figure that out.”
Serenity felt her face heat. “I said that out loud too, didn’t I?”
He nodded, “It’s quite endearing to have someone just say what they’re thinking.”
“How old are you?” She asked suddenly.
“I’m twenty six,” he answered.
“You’re eight years older than me,” she said. “Don’t you think that’s a bit much of an age gap?”
Dr. Michaels shrugged. “I think age is only an issue if you make it one. I find you to be a beautiful young woman with a witty sense of humor, becoming innocence and divine physical form. You being eighteen has nothing to do with any of those things.”
Well okay then, Serenity thought to herself. She didn’t really know what to say to that. So she just stared up at the incredibly handsome man who was looking at her as if she were his sun, moon and stars. There was a reason she shouldn’t be allowing such a look, she knew it but her mind felt foggy and disjointed.
“I must be on my way,” he said finally as he stood. “But if you would humor me for a moment.” He paused, obviously waiting for an answer.
“That depends on what you’re wanting humored.”
He leaned down so that one hand was resting on the side of the bed next to her hip and the other braced on the back of the bed. “I just need to check one more thing to make sure my patient is fairing alright.”
She blinked unsure of what his intentions were. She didn’t have to wonder long.
Dr. Michaels pressed his lips to hers, capturing her mouth before she could flinch away. She tried to pull back but there was no where for her to go. Serenity’s heart and mind were screaming at her to stop, but her body wouldn’t obey. It was as if her damn hormones had hijacked her body and she was simply a prisoner to it’s whims. She felt his fingers thread through her hair and tug gently causing her to gasp. He sunk deeper into the kiss and pushed her mouth open with his tongue. He tasted like cinnamon and smoke and not Dair. DAIR! That’s why she shouldn’t be listening or looking, how could she have forgotten him?
Suddenly there was a huge roar and Dr. Michaels was gone. His body hit the far wall and standing over him was an enraged Sandman. The shadows in the room were swirling around him almost blocking them both from Serenity’s sight. She only got flashes in between the movement of the shadows of what was going on.
“Who the hell do you think you are? You know she is my fiancé and yet you still hit on her? You know she is a patient and much younger than you and still you dare put your hands and mouth on her? Do you want to die?”
“You need to release me, boy,” Dr. Michaels voice sounded every bit as enraged as Dair’s.
“I don’t know who you are but you need to stay the hell away from Serenity.” Dair threw the doctor towards the door. The man gave him a scathing look before pulling it open and storming out.
Serenity pressed her trembling hand to her lips and choked back a sob. What had she done?
Chapter Eight
“I’ve never known what it is to have my heart ripped from my chest. I’ve seen humans who’ve claimed to have a broken or shattered heart, but I’d never fully understood the expression, not until that moment. Seeing another man touching, kissing, Serenity, I felt well and truly gutted.” ~ Dair.
Dair stood there attempting to keep his anger in check. He wanted to murder the doctor for kissing Serenity, and kissing was actually too tame a word. It was more like he’d been trying to climb inside of her. As livid as that made Diar, he had something even more important to worry about. During the doctor’s actions, Dair hadn’t been able to
move. Some sort of power had wrapped around him and he’d literally been unable take a step toward them. That meant Dr. Michaels was a human possessed by a powerful demon, or worse a demon able to look human, or even worse than that, Lucifer himself, disguised as a doctor. The only reason he’d been able to break free was the complete rage that overtook him when he’d watched the man press his lips to Serenity’s. He’d lost it. All of the power he possessed had somehow broken the spell holding him.
“Dair.” Serenity’s broken voice was just another hit to the gut. She sounded so scared, so horrified. He blinked, trying to get the image out of his mind. It felt as though it had been branded there.
He finally turned to look at the woman he loved. She looked devastated, as if she had been the one watching him kiss another woman. She also looked shocked, as if she couldn’t believe what she’d let happen. He wasn’t sure what he felt toward her in that moment. He didn’t know if he was angry, hurt, scared of losing her, or desperate to be away from her. It wasn’t her fault. He knew that in his heart, but his mind just kept replaying the scene over and over.
She bowed her head and silent tears fell, dotting the sheet sitting in her lap. He wanted to hold her and tell her everything would be fine. He wanted to shake her and roar at the sky. He wanted to understand why, even though he knew she’d probably been under some supernatural influence.
“Why?” he said through clenched teeth. He was trying so hard to remain calm. He didn’t want to frighten her, and he wanted to give her the chance to explain, praying her explanation would confirm his suspicions.
Serenity’s shoulders began to tremble as she cried harder. Her hands fisted the sheet and comforter in her grasp. Her knuckles turned white as she squeezed harder, as if by doing so she’d be able to hold herself together. Finally, after several minutes of him simply staring at her and her weeping, she answered. “I don’t know.” The words were practically whispered, but he heard them clearly. “I don’t understand it,” she continued, her voice growing a little stronger, though she didn’t look up at him. “There’s no excuse, but there was something about him that I literally couldn’t resist. My mind and my heart were screaming at me to stop him, and yet my body wouldn’t obey. I didn’t want to kiss him, but my body wanted him. I don’t know how else to explain it. I just …” She trailed off and then finally looked up at him.
Dair nearly fell to his knees at the lost and broken look in her eyes. His beloved was staring at him with such pleading, such longing, that he felt her pain in his own spirit. She hadn’t done it on purpose, he knew it, and now he could see it. She truly hadn’t wanted to kiss the man, but she hadn’t known how to make herself or him stop. Dair moved to the side of the bed and motioned to it. “May I?” He didn’t know why he was asking. It wasn’t like he ever asked in the past week to sit by her, he just did. Previously, he’d felt like sitting next to her had been his right. But suddenly he wasn’t so sure anymore. He didn’t know where he fit in the equation.
“You don’t have to ask, Dair.” She breathed out. “You never have to ask.” Serenity paused and looked up at him. “I’m yours.”
“Are you?” The words slipped out before he could stop them, and the minute her face fell, he felt like the biggest ass in the world. She hadn’t been able to help herself and he’d been unable to save her from the evil man. “That was cruel,” he said quickly.
She shook her head. “I deserve it. I deserve it if you no longer want me. I’ll completely understand if you want to go.”
Wait. What?
“I never meant to hurt you, Dair. I need you to know that.” Serenity reached for his hand as he sat down next to her but then pulled back as if she were unsure she was allowed to touch him. “I didn’t, I don’t, want him. The minute he stopped kissing me it was like a fog was lifted. And then I realized what I’d let happen, and there you were and I couldn’t take it back.”
Dair wondered briefly how far things would have gone if he hadn’t walked in. If Serenity hadn’t been able to say no to Dr. Michaels kissing her, then would she have been able to stop him from touching her, or doing more? His hands fisted in his lap. The Creator help him, the idea of someone else knowing her in such an intimate way, of her knowing anyone but him in such an intimate way, made him feel rage like he’d never felt before.
“I love you,” Serenity said softly. “But after that, I don’t deserve you.”
The silence in the room was painful after she stopped talking. They both sat there, hurting for different reasons. She thought he’d want to leave her, that he would be done with her. Had he not made it clear to her that she was it for him? Even if she had done it of her own free will, he would never leave her. Though he knew, and now had confirmation from her words, that she was under some sort of influence Dr. Michaels was wielding.
He loved her. He needed her. She was a part of him and there was no Dair without Serenity, not anymore.
He reached out and put his fingers under her chin, lifting it until she was forced to look at him. Two tears tracked down either side of her face. She simply stared at him, like a guilty person awaiting her sentencing. “I’m not going anywhere, Serenity,” Dair said gently. “I don’t know what happened in here before I got here. I believe you when you say you didn’t want him.”
“You do?” she asked, her brow raising and her eyes widening.
He nodded. “I don’t think you are capable of that kind of deception. And I… ” He didn’t know how to say this next part. It was so sudden and it hadn’t happened until he’d touched her, but he had felt something different. It seems he now felt what she was feeling—shame, hurt, fear, grief, pain, and now a smidgen of hope. “And though I felt your attraction to him, I also feel your repulsion over him touching you.” He tilted his head as he looked at her. “Could I try something?” he asked.
She nodded.
Dair didn’t have a clue what he was doing, so he just let his instincts guide him. He leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to her lips and then let his forehead rest against hers. He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. He pushed his power into her, just as if he was trying to build a dream for her. But instead of building a dream, he simply let his power search her mind. It didn’t take long before he found her memories. He didn’t want to dig too deep. She deserved her privacy, so he carefully probed until he came to that morning’s events.
He felt a bit of the jealousy again when he experienced her attraction to Dr. Michaels but was happy to see how fleeting it had been. The first glimpse had been real attraction, but after her initial reaction to him, she was leery and confused. She kept trying to figure out what she was feeling because she knew the things her mind was telling her to feel were completely wrong. When Dair heard Dr. Michaels rationalize his actions, Dair’s teeth clenched painfully in his mouth. It had been killing him to hear it when he’d been unable to break the man’s jaw to shut him up.
Then, just as the doctor was leaving, Dair saw it. Dr. Michael’s had turned around for a split second before leaving, so fast that the human eye wouldn’t have registered it, which meant he’d done it for Dair’s sake. There was no doubt it happened. The eyes of Dr. Michaels flashed solid black, completely covering any white. It was so quick that he didn’t think Serenity’s mind even registered what she was seeing. There was only one being from the abyss that had eyes that black. These eyes were as dark as their owner’s own soul—Lucifer. Even Dair’s black eyes weren’t the same bottomless color of Lucifer’s.
The ruler of hell had apparently taken an interest, a very personal interest, in Serenity. Dair had been warned by Lucifer himself, but Dair hadn’t expected the prince of air to come in person. Rather, he expected Lucifer to send a demon to torment Serenity. Then he remembered the words the evil ruler had said.
“Oh, Dair, I shall have her. I shall have her in every way you have not and then some.”
Lucifer hadn’t been speaking in riddles. He had been saying exactly what he intended to do. Brudair was all to
o familiar with the enemy’s focus on destroying relationships. Lucifer wanted people to feel isolated and alone. Perhaps he thought if he seduced Serenity, Dair wouldn’t want her anymore. It would no doubt cause tension and hurt between them, but Dair would not give her up. Not for any reason.
“I will simply have to beat you at your own game,” Dair muttered as he pulled away from Serenity. There was nothing Dair wouldn’t do to protect Serenity, even if that meant he would have to battle all of hell and its ruler to keep her safe.
Lucifer paced his throne room, careful not to get too close to the walls. He hated when one of the condemned grabbed him. They were stacked one on top of another as high as the eye could see and beyond. Their agony and wails were like a sweet symphony to him. They screamed and clawed at one another. When he was in the room, they constantly reached for him and begged for mercy. He chuckled. It was a dark, ruthless sound. “Mercy,” He spat as he glanced at the wall in front of him. Broken eyes stared back at him. “Mercy is for the weak.” Mercy was what the Creator offered to His disgusting humans. Why He insisted on loving them was something Lucifer never understood. They were selfish, proud, merciless beings and wanted nothing to do with the One who fashioned them. Why did the Creator keep them? He loved them in a way He never loved the angels. He loved them more than the beings that worshiped Him faithfully and served Him faithfully. It was disgusting, and it made Lucifer angry.
“Why do you allow this madness to continue?” He roared to the heavens, knowing his enemy would hear him.
“Were we not enough? Did we not give you the glory that you demanded? And yet you created humans in your image. Why did we not hold the same value as they?” Lucifer waited, wanting answers, demanding answers. When none came, he smirked. “Won’t even face me. What kind of God are You that You can’t defend yourself and answer questions?”