He watched her closely, his gaze running along the beautiful lines of her face, the soft golden skin, dark eyes and brows, and the long, thick hair that, when loose, hung to just above her ass. It was a detail he remembered with clarity.
She was magnificent.
But she was a DaCosta nonetheless and not to be trusted, especially now, when the stakes were so freaking high.
His hand went to the damaged skin on his chest, as memories rushed through him in hard flashes, but it was the dark ones he focused on. The black holes full of emptiness and pain. They fed him in a way nothing else could.
Cormac and Azaiel.
They were at the heart of the poison that was slowly seeping into the human realm. They were the enemy. They were also his road to salvation.
If I don’t find them . . . Julian looked away and banished those thoughts.
“What the hell happened to you?” she asked carefully, haltingly, as if she were having trouble forming her words.
He let Jaden back away. It was the smart thing to do. He needed to focus on the task at hand. Sex was something that wasn’t part of the equation.
The air around her shimmered, and small tufts of mist hung lazily in the air. She was close to the change, her jaguar was excited.
It fed the animal inside him, and he clenched his teeth as he considered his options.
He could take her down in less than a second, snap her neck, and toss her body out the window. Call it a night. No one would know.
Or he could play things out. Was she working with her family? Was she rogue?
He sensed no immediate danger. Maybe it was sheer arrogance on his part, but Julian truly felt she meant him no harm. Even though she hates me. He snorted at the thought.
“I’m gonna take a shower.” He turned from her and walked toward his room. “Then we’ll talk.”
Julian felt the weight of her stare at his back, and a ghost of a smile flickered across his face as he stepped into the bathroom. Seconds later, it was filled with steaming-hot water, and he stepped under the spray, letting the heavenly wetness slide across his skin.
It was the simplest of pleasures and one he’d not enjoyed for a very long time. As the warmth spread along his tall frame, caressing the hardness between his legs, he rested his head against the tiles and willed his body to relax.
He couldn’t believe he was out, that he’d been pulled from the bowels of hell.
All thoughts of pleasure fled, and a muscle worked its way across his jaw as he clenched his teeth tightly. He thought once more of the shadowy figure who’d held the instrument of pain in her hands. Of how she’d sliced and diced until she’d reached the part of him that was sacred.
And then had methodically ripped half of his soul out of his body.
Even now, the pain pounded away inside him, the half-empty hole ragged and raw. It agitated the jaguar, filling his mind with all kinds of madness. He’d lived with it for six months and would continue to deal. He had no choice.
Julian let the spray wash over him for a good long time, his thoughts centered on the woman he’d found in his home. Three years ago, he’d seduced her, screwed her, then left like a coward. At the time he’d had no idea who she was, but the fact that she’d been a shifter had been enough to make him run.
Julian shook his head. Yeah, nothing was the same. There was a time when he’d hated anything to do with his shifter heritage, and now he embraced it with a savage need.
His world had indeed come full circle.
Five minutes later, he left the bedroom, dressed in jeans, T-shirt, and the heavy boots he’d arrived in.
The shower had invigorated him, and his head was clear. He ran his hands through the damp thick waves, pushing his hair back as his golden eyes swept the room.
She was where he’d left her. Arms crossed over her chest, legs spread as she looked out the window over the darkened city below. The dagger lay at her feet.
He crossed the floor silently until he was inches from her body and studied her closely as she turned her head to the side.
“Long shower,” she said, and looked away.
He saw her face reflected in the glass. She’d lost a bit of weight since he’d last seen her. The blush of youth had given way to adulthood. It showed in her cheeks, but the end result was toned and lean. She wore formfitting black clothes and kick-ass boots.
She’d let her hair out from the band that had confined it earlier and it flowed, just as he remembered, down to the soft swell of her butt.
She really was a beautiful woman.
“If you want, I can bend over and give you a real treat.” The sarcasm that laced her words was thick, and Julian smiled as their eyes met in the window.
“If you bent over right now you’d be giving me more than a treat,” he said, “and I’d have to do something about it.”
He watched as her eyes fell to his crotch, and his teeth flashed white at the look of disgust that passed over her features.
“Can we skip this?” She whirled around. “The whole banter thing? ’Cause we’re not buddies, and I’m not in the mood for games. I need to be somewhere.”
“Be somewhere?” Julian’s eyes narrowed. “You got some other penthouse to break into?”
“No, asshole, I was only hitting you tonight.”
Julian took a step closer to her. “Well hell”—he stood with his arms stretched out fully—“hit me.”
Jaden’s face darkened. “You’re still an arrogant son of a bitch who doesn’t have the balls for someone like me,” she snapped. “There will be no hitting between us. Again. Ever.”
Julian watched the flurry of emotions that crossed her face. Her chest strained against thin fabric as she inhaled a ragged breath and pushed a long strand of hair behind her ear. The soft curve of her neck stood out in stark contrast to the silken black, and he imagined his fingers twined into the luxurious waves.
It was then that he spied the tats along her neck, and inside, his jaguar began to make noise. She was not just a shifter. The woman before him was a jaguar warrior—rare for a female, and that meant she was mated. The warrior tats on females only materialized after sex with the person she’d claimed as hers.
For some reason, that information left a bad taste in his mouth, the kind that lingered, and he frowned heavily.
“Why are you here?” he asked, watching closely for any hint of deceit.
Jaden pursed her lips, and he could see the indecision in her eyes. His own kept straying to the tattoos on the side of her neck, and when her hair fell forward once more and covered them, he couldn’t say he was sorry.
Where the hell was her mate? Christ, if she belonged to him, he’d never let her screw off into the night, hitting homes that housed dangerous sons of bitches like himself.
“There’s been chatter that something big is gonna hit the fan sooner rather than later. Like nasty big.” Jaden began to tap her foot impatiently and moved across the room, her long legs full of grace and stealth. “Everyone’s looking for the portal, and I thought . . .” She sighed heavily and turned toward him. “I don’t know what I thought. Some information fell into my lap, and I acted on it.”
“What information?”
Jaden eyed him warily and bit her lip. She was clearly uneasy. “Let’s just say your name popped up. I thought maybe there was something here that had been overlooked, so tonight I hopped on the jet and flew up from Mexico.”
Julian cocked his head as the ever-present darkness inside him shifted. It left him edgy, aggressive. This could not be a coincidence. He fucking hated being nothing more than a chess piece to be moved about until someone with power yelled, “Checkmate.”
“I don’t suppose you brought the portal back with you?” she asked pointedly as she clenched her fists at her sides.
He considered dismissing her outright but instead shook his head, no.
“Are you going to tell me where you’ve been?” she asked.
“In hell.”
&
nbsp; The words were simple, his tone harsh, and she winced as they slid from between his lips.
She opened her mouth to speak but then closed it, running a hand along her temple wearily.
“Who called you?” she asked abruptly, her dark eyes wary. “Earlier tonight on the cell.”
“Declan,” he answered. Julian had no need to lie.
“The sorcerer is alive, too?” She looked shocked. “Do Jaxon and the others know you’re back?”
“Not yet.” Julian answered.
He moved closer to her and nailed her with a don’t fuck with me look. “Are you working with your family?” There it was. The question that he most wanted answered.
Jaden’s eyes widened slightly, and he heard her heart beating fast against her chest. The color in her cheeks darkened once more, yet it only enhanced the golden tone of her skin. He fought the urge to pull her to him, just so he could touch her softness and inhale her fragrant odor.
It had been so long.
“No.” Her voice was low and husky. “I’ve done everything in my power to stop them, to find the portal and destroy it.” She looked away. “I’m ashamed to say we share the same DNA.”
He was about to answer, but his body froze. Every instinct inside him screamed “attack,” and he growled softly. Something was out there, beyond the glass, on the balcony that ran the length of his penthouse.
He rushed toward Jaden, his body a blur. A look of surprise flickered over her features, then he was on her, taking her down as the large pane of glass shattered, erupting into deadly projectiles that rained down into his home.
He felt the familiar burn creep over his skin, his animal wanting out, and time stopped as he stared down into her eyes. Something passed between them, and in that moment, they were in perfect harmony.
She went for the dagger as he rolled off, clearing the way, and her aim was both accurate and deadly. The dagger flew in silence, slicing through the air near his cheek as it sailed behind him.
A loud grunt was heard, and he was on his feet in time to see a body fall to the floor. The dagger was embedded deep into the skull, between the eyes, cutting through bone and brain tissue.
It twitched violently, then stilled as an obnoxious odor leaked from the wound. Filthy, stinking, dead demon.
Jaden bent down and cursed as she kicked the prone body. “Goddamn it! Must there always be drama?” she yelled. Her anger and frustration boiled over into a string of profanities that at any other time Julian would have found both impressive and nasty.
Except, he had no time to congratulate her on her choice of vocabulary as he was staring at a huge problem.
“Shit,” Jaden whispered as she straightened and stood beside him, the dagger back in her hands and dripping blackened liquid.
Six nasty demons slipped through the shattered window, bringing with them the stench of otherworld.
Six demons against two jaguars.
Julian looked down at the woman beside him and snarled, glorifying in the dark energy that had just blown in. It fed him in a way nothing else could.
“You ready to rock and roll?” he asked harshly.
“Hell yeah,” Jaden answered as she squared her shoulders. The air around her body began to shimmer as her jaguar made noise. “But let’s make this quick.”
She ducked as one of them flew at her.
“I don’t want to miss the Buffy marathon that starts at midnight.”
Chapter 3
Jaden leapt over the sofa, hissing in pain, as droplets of the demon’s blood burned into her skin. She swept the dagger across the fabric, cleaning it as she flew over, and twisted her body so that she landed to face the two demons that broke away from the others.
Her skin was on fire with the need to change, and mist was already crawling up her legs.
One of the demons followed her lead and jumped over the sofa, his stench seeping into her nostrils. The dude had some serious hygiene problems.
He landed in front of her, mouth agape and dripping saliva everywhere.
“Christ, you boys don’t exactly win the prize for best-looking,” she snarled as she charged forward and leapt up at him. The demon met her in the air, and they slammed together with such force that her breath was knocked from her body.
Her fingers barely held on to the dagger as she went down and landed on her back, hard, with the demon on top of her.
He stared down at her, smiled viciously as he licked his serrated teeth. “You jaguars are weak, pathetic creatures,” he said.
Jaden wrinkled her nose. “Yeah? Buddy, you’re strong. I’ll give you that.” She tightened her grip on the dagger and prayed that the charm still carried enough power to inflict damage. “But body odor isn’t something to be proud of.”
She hissed loudly and swiped the dagger up toward the demon’s throat. He grabbed her hand just in time. and the two of them struggled for the blade. The demon rose from the ground and brought her up with him, as she poured all of her strength into her grip.
He laughed, and inside, her jaguar erupted into a fury. Jaden’s eyes flashed, and she lashed out with her right leg, kicking hard and fast.
When in doubt, aim for the junk.
The monster roared in pain as she connected with his demon jewels, and she yanked the dagger from his hand. He lunged toward her, blind with fury, and Jaden used every bit of strength she had as she arced the weapon in a perfect line. It was a large dagger, razor-sharp.
The change was already falling over her frame as the demon fell at her feet, his cleanly severed head landing a few inches away.
Bones popped and elongated, muscles stretched, and a thick black pelt rippled along her flesh as her jaguar burst from inside. Her clothes were ripped to shreds as the large cat erupted from her body, and they fell in pieces at her feet.
Jaden growled loudly, her mouth open and panting as she reveled in the power of her animal. The cat heard the sounds of battle, of Julian and the others, but she concentrated on the suddenly wary demon in front of her.
He glanced down at his fallen comrade and began clacking his teeth in a strange sort of sequence, moving his head slowly. The clack, clack, clack, was raw, ragged, and she circled as the demon began to change.
Jaden had seen this before. She knew if the demon had time to morph into his true form, she was pretty much screwed.
Her hind legs dug in, and she jumped up onto the sofa, using it to propel herself upward. Her claws were fully extended as she attacked the demon. He was beginning to stretch. His human shape began to morph and distort while his colors changed from flesh tone to a shit brown green.
She hit him at shoulder height and ignored the pain as his arms went around her body, crushing her to him tightly. He roared loudly as her claws dug in, and when he bit into her shoulder, the pain was immediate and intense. Jaden had never felt anything like it.
Liquid fire burned across her shoulder.
She held on and clawed her way upward, loosening his grip, and with relief she felt his mouth give way as she zeroed in on her target.
Jaden growled loudly as she anchored her body and dug in. She opened her jaws as wide as they could go, then clamped down on his skull. Her large incisors went deep, ripping into bone and tissue, and she fought the urge to let go as the taste of the demon flooded her mouth.
He screamed in pain and began to twist violently. Jaden held on; she could not let him win. Her shoulder was on fire and she feared the demon’s poison would be too strong for her.
Her vision blurred, and a wave of dizziness fell over her, but still she gripped hard. The demon moaned loudly and began to wobble as he struggled to stay upright, and, with a loud crash, the beast fell forward, pinning Jaden beneath his heavy weight.
She released her hold and fought the red haze that danced in front of her eyes. The pain had spread from her shoulders across her back, and it felt like a thousand tiny teeth were slowly peeling back layers of her skin, from the inside out.
The demon was a de
adweight, and she struggled to get out from beneath him, feeling instant relief when the monster was thrown from her body. She hissed and tried to scramble to her feet, her mind darkened with both fear and fury.
She turned, bared her teeth, her great tail sweeping back and forth, but it was Julian who knelt before her. She relaxed somewhat, panting heavily as she surveyed the carnage in the room.
Six demons dead.
The ancient magick of her people took hold, and she clenched her teeth as the change rolled over her body. It was quick but painful, and as her human form took over, the thick glossy pelt sliding from her skin, she groaned loudly and fell back to the floor.
“The bastard bit me,” she said hoarsely, wincing as the fire continued to spread.
“Lie still,” Julian whispered.
She rested her head along the cool tiles, hearing nothing but his breathing and the heavy beating of their hearts. His hands felt along her shoulder.
“You’re lucky. His teeth aren’t meant to rip through heavy fur. They didn’t penetrate too deep.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” she managed to get out. “This is only phantom pain.”
Julian knelt beside her, and she tensed as his hands continued down her body to rest at her hip. She was totally nude, and it made her feel that much more vulnerable.
“It still doesn’t negate the severity.”
Jaden’s heart sank. What he said was true.
“It means you have a few hours more than most would.” His words were matter-of-fact, his tone colorless.
She hissed loudly and turned her dull eyes to him. “Nice to see you haven’t lost your charm, Castille.”
She struggled to get up and slapped his hand away when he would have helped her.
“Make yourself useful and get me something to wear,” she whispered hoarsely as she knelt, bent over and cradling her chest.
The poison made her nauseous, and she so didn’t want to heave on his feet even though it would serve the bastard right. She panted softly, concentrating on the sounds, the rhythm, and eventually the nausea faded.
His Darkest Salvation Page 2