Tainted Kiss

by Sharon Kay

  “What’s not fair, babe? I’m thoroughly enjoying this. And it looks and sounds like you are too.”

  “I need more than…two of your fingers,” she managed to whisper. Her throat was dry, her thoughts jumbled.

  He gave a low chuckle. “All I need is one finger to make you come, Princess. Remember that.”

  She moaned and lowered her body, dragging her flesh over his taunting hand. She glanced down, hoping he was in as much agony as she was.

  His sweatpants rode low on his hips, and his new kneeling position had shifted his erection. It pushed at the center of his pants, so close to the top. If his sweats slipped any lower, it would spring free.

  Her body bowed as he slid his hand back to her entrance. “So wet,” he murmured in appreciation. He circled, moving his fingers farther in.

  Oh god, it was incredible and yet not enough. “More,” she whispered, pushing her hips forward.

  With a wicked gleam in his eye, he withdrew and slid his fingers forward to her clit.

  “Oh, gods…” It was perfect torture. “Yes…” her body arched toward him. More, more, more.

  Suddenly his hand was gone. Ria whimpered and looked down to see him licking his fingers. One, then the other. “Fuck, woman, you taste so good.” His words ended on a growl as he grabbed one of her legs and set it on his shoulder. Then he leaned in.

  Blood thundered in Arawn’s ears as he looked his fill at Ria’s nudity. Her body wept for him, the sweet scent of her arousal mixing with her regular scent of orange blossom. Her hair was wild, tumbling across her shoulders and the tops of her perfect breasts, skimming pink nipples that had swollen to stiff buds.

  A turquoise glow shone from her eyes, letting him know, as if her wet flesh and the scent of her desire weren’t enough, that she was ready for him.

  His cock throbbed against the cotton of his pants but he ignored his own desire. He would make her come, make her tremble. Make her forget the names of all the other males she’d been intimate with.

  He locked eyes with her and licked her slowly.

  Her body jerked and she dropped her head back against the tile wall, moaning.

  “Look at me,” he commanded.

  She gulped and shivered, then opened her eyes. “Yes,” she whispered.

  He leaned in again, licking and exploring. The primal side of him wanted to mark her, learn her body, and make her want more. Hell with his own need right now. She stood before him, healthy, vibrant, and strong—yet the choking feeling of seeing her cling to life would be a constant reminder of what he’d nearly lost before he’d even examined the possibility.

  He couldn’t give her all of him. But he could give a lot. And right now, he’d give her as many orgasms as she could take.

  He slid two fingers inside her wet heat, then three. Her body was open and pliant, soft and yet full of promise as she squeezed her inner muscles around his fingers. He chuckled against her flesh, then circled her clit with his tongue.

  She gasped and rocked against his mouth.

  He pulled back a fraction to look up at her. Her chest rose and fell with erratic breaths and she dropped a hand into his hair. “Please,” she whispered.

  “Please what?” He kept his lips against her skin, just enough to touch but with barely any pressure.

  She bit her lip. “What you just did. Do it again.”

  He used two fingers to spread her and expose her swollen clit. He sucked it into his mouth and she moaned. Then he feathered his tongue across it, back and forth.

  Ria’s legs trembled. “Oh gods.” One of her hands was clenched in his hair, the other on his shoulder as he worked her body. Her moans intensified, her hips flexed faster and suddenly she gave a low, muffled cry.

  He glanced up to see her, eyes shut, half gasping, half whimpering as she bit down on her own hand. An attempt to keep quiet and keep their privacy, he guessed. Not that anyone would venture in here. Arawn knew the scent of desire hung thickly in the air. Any of the females would pick up on that immediately, even if they didn’t know who it was, and walk away.

  He sucked and licked until she stopped moving. He set her leg on the floor and stood, pulling her against him. Her shoulders sagged for a second, then she looked up at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his mouth down.

  Her kisses were incredible, sweet and enticing. She skimmed a hand down his chest and he knew what she had in mind. He stopped her with his hand.

  “What…” She blinked up at him, brows furrowed.

  “Not this time.”

  “But…”

  “This is all about you.” He held her hand, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles.

  Her eyes dropped to his cock, which still tented his pants, then back up to his.

  “I’m sending you into a house full of men where you have to play waitress. They’re gonna look. They may try to touch. I want you to remember me. This. Now.”

  “I could never forg—”

  “Get your sweet ass out of there when the job’s done.” He cupped her face in his palms. “And I’ll be waiting for you.”

  A chill wind howled around the Bloodspire Mountains, battering furiously at the rock. Deep in the twisting labyrinth of caves and tunnels, the gusts hardly filtered in. A fire crackled in the corner of Kazo’s cave, providing enough warmth for his red leathery hands to work their stolen spell.

  He cracked open a vial of amber liquid and carefully released three drops into a stone bowl of water. All of it had been stolen from a Deserati demon years ago, right after Kazo had forced the creature to divulge the words to his scrying spell.

  Then Kazo had slit the Deserati’s throat.

  The dead Deserati proved useful, though the gift came with a price. The bowl was insignificant. Any receptacle would work. But the spell and the precious liquid were necessary. Kazo, like all Ghazsul demons, couldn’t scry without stealing the method and components. Viscous tree resin, prepared by the Deserati demons to aid in their natural scrying skills, was essential. The resin, and of course the spell itself. And each time. Kazo had to carefully weigh the need for information against the crippling pain that seized his body for days afterward.

  Kazo only scryed when he and Splinter, his band of Ghazsul demons, were out of options to advance their agenda. Through the years, that had usually included theft of magical items or weapons. And always, lurking like a shadow, was the Atropa sword.

  The perfect weapon, with the perfect poison magically sealed within and forever sustained by blood. Even if it had held water, the design and craft of the blade would be considered spectacular. But to be able to kill in such a swift, easy, and violent way was too much to let slide by.

  Over the years, his group had tracked the descendants of Verdak and killed all they had found. They had also watched the yearly mania over the alignment of the stars and the moons to see if anything fruitful ever came of it.

  Nothing ever did.

  Kazo’s hands tingled as they always did when he thought of the sword. Mine. The old demon’s blood coursed like a vibrant, living presence in his veins. And if things went as planned, no one but he would ever touch the sword. He clenched a fist, so eager to wield the deadly blade.

  But not yet. Verdak had several children, and they had proliferated like fleas on a hellhound. Direct descendants had mostly fallen to Splinter already. But some proved more difficult to find, like the half breeds and the bastards they had begotten.

  Kazo held his hands over the bowl and spoke the words in Demonish. “Show me Verdak’s kin,” he said. Mist formed on the surface, then twisted into a column of wispy tendrils before clearing completely. Kazo frowned.

  What the hell? He stared into the water, unable to make sense of it. Had he spoken the spell wrong?

  Kazo blinked down at the image of the very large, intimidating, pompous ass who led the Lash demons.

  Arawn.

  Everyone knew who he was. And his parents were Lash.

  It couldn’t be. Astonishme
nt stilled his hands.

  Kazo repeated the spell, guessing he’d suffer double the pain for doing so but needing to know for sure. Again, mist danced and arced over the water, then cleared to show him…

  Arawn again.

  Bloody fucking hell.

  The righteous, brash leader who decided to send his people into other creatures’ business every damn day…held within his body the cells of incarnate evil.

  With a wave of his hand, Kazo dismissed the image and grinned to himself. Oh, this would be fun. This would be child’s play.

  He gritted his teeth at the first slice of pain tearing through his belly. But to bring down Arawn, this would be worth it.

  He cried out and fell to the dirt floor, still grinning. There were so many ways to get to the Lash leader. So many ways to leverage this. He cared for his people. Caring was a weakness that Splinter had exploited dozens of times.

  The blackness of blinding pain ripped up his legs and into his chest. Knowing unconsciousness was seconds away, he pictured the Atropa sword piercing Arawn’s arrogant heart, branding the image into his brain and counting the days until he could follow it up with reality.

  C

  HAPTER 9

  WHEN THE SUN CRESTED THE sloping hills on the east side of Watcher HQ Saturday morning, Ria was ready for her job. The days had alternately dragged and flown by since her encounter with Arawn in the shower Wednesday. He’d been busy with work, so busy that they’d barely had time to talk.

  She knew there were dozens of Watchers out across the realms on assignments. It wasn’t just Torth. And they all needed him in order to touch base, readjust their plan, whatever. Then there were the domestic, less dangerous issues he had to attend to. Like finding them a new location, since their current one had been exposed in the battle with Elegia’s army.

  He’d winked at her in passing, and they’d sent a few texts back and forth. But that was it. She found herself missing him and at the same time reminding herself that this was his life. This was what she’d known all along, what she’d observed over the years. It made her value the time he’d been able to steal away with her even more.

  And it made her insane to get him alone again.

  Ria had gone over Thane’s floor plans and met with Sebastian, the only vampire living at Watcher HQ. As a highly skilled thief who was used to working solo or with only his daughter, he was consulted on matters involving delicate breaking and entering and extraction, without a contingent of warriors as backup. Together they’d gone over dozens of different ways to hide something in a work of stone. Some of the mechanism she already knew about, but he surprised her with several more.

  Now, her phone chirped as she finished a blueberry muffin in the morning sunlight of the balcony. “Hello?”

  “Hi, Ria,” Sonja, one of the demons in the tech group, greeted her. “Got some last minute information for you.”

  “Oh?”

  “We intercepted a call from Thane’s men to the company that he’s using for the cocktail servers.”

  “Don’t tell me. He wants men to serve the drinks instead?”

  “No.” Sonja giggled. “Um, not men. Still definitely women. But he made a different request for the attire of the servers.”

  “Oh, boy. Let’s hear it.” Was Thane making this a theme party? “What does he want—showgirls, dominatrixes, peasant girls?”

  “Body paint.”

  “What?” Ria coughed on a last crumb of muffin. Body paint? Usually she had all kinds of gadgets and weapons concealed in tactical gear or at least a sheath under a skirt. But now she’d be…naked? “Body paint? You’re kidding.”

  “No. I wish I were. I’m sorry, girl,” Sonja mumbled.

  “Do I at least get pasties or a thong?”

  “Um…” The flip-flip-flip of shuffled paper echoed through the phone. “Let’s see…no. The contract Thane signed specifies no items of clothing, no skin coverings of any kind, no jewelry. Nothing except shoes. And paint.”

  “Shit.” Seriously? She rubbed her temple.

  “Yeah.” Sonja sighed. “So, it apparently takes hours to put that stuff on. I’m guessing you’ll have to report in sooner.”

  “Uh, yeah. I’ll check in with Mathias.” Ria stared out at the green canopy of the elm tree beyond the balustrade. “Thanks for the heads-up.”

  “Any time.”

  “Are you coming today?”

  “No. I think Wolfe is running comms from the hidden location today.”

  “Okay, well, thanks again.” Ria ended the call. She was used to being the only female in her team. She wasn’t used to be the only Watcher naked in a group of men. At least there’d be other servers equally undressed at this thing. Body paint. She shook her head and allowed herself one more second of annoyance.

  She squared her shoulders. This was a job. She didn’t plan on seeing any of the males at Thane’s party again, so what did it really matter? And if Thane made this request, he probably saw naked females on a regular basis. He wouldn’t remember her or probably any of the other girls.

  Her phone rang again and she glanced at it, idly wondering if Arawn had been informed yet. She had a feeling he’d be royally pissed.

  Mathias’s name flashed on the screen and she pressed accept. “Hey, brother dear.”

  “Uh, there’s been a slight change in today’s plans,” he said, clearing his throat. His discomfort carried through the phone.

  “I know,” Ria said. “Sonja just called me.”

  “Oh. Good.” He blew out a breath. “So we know Thane’s a perv.”

  “Or just has inclinations that run parallel to lots of other males,” Ria said. “The company offers this service for a reason.”

  “True,” he muttered. “I’m not crazy about it but I know you can handle it.”

  “Yup.” Creatures on Torth were more comfortable with sex and nudity than people on Earth, where Ria’s last assignment had been. “I can take down the same number of Ghazsuls whether I have clothes on or not.”

  “Yeah, but all those assholes looking at you like you’re dessert pisses me off.”

  “Me too, but I won’t be the only naked female. And if this is our best chance to get close to the statue? I’ll do it.” She twirled a lock of hair around her finger. “I mean, we’ve both been on more dangerous jobs. This one is just kind of embarrassing.”

  “Shit, yeah. And I gotta say, you’re handling this way better than me.” He paused and the clicking of a keyboard carried to her ear. “Let’s see, you need to report at noon instead of four. You’ll get…uh, painted…at their facility and then a porter will take you to Thane’s.”

  “A porter? Well, that’s one good thing.” Porters, creatures who had the ability to transport individuals with their minds, were exceedingly rare and charged high fees for their services. But their method of transport was smooth and tranquil, the polar opposite of the alternate, and much more common method of travel: portals.

  The shimmering iridescent circle of a portal could be summoned by anyone with a spell or amulet, but once you stepped in, it was like being thrown into a zero gravity whirlwind, then you got dropped to the ground at your destination. It induced nausea in many travelers, especially those who weren’t used to it. And Ria was definitely not used to it.

  “Yeah, if you fell from a portal into the grass, it’d mess up all the paint, I guess,” Mathias said. “Anyway, this means no weapons, unless we can get a spike hair pin or something. If you can sneak it in. And that won’t do much damage.”

  “I can always spin if things get out of hand,” she said. “And I bet Fife will have a counterspell for my gloves.”

  “True.” He sighed. “Bet you didn’t envision this when you were dying to get back to active duty.”

  “No, but I can roll with it. And I dare you to do a job naked.”

  “Uh…”

  Ria laughed. “That’s what I thought.”

  “Yeah, uh…wow, I don’t want to imagine what that would entail.
Nothing that Gin would allow, I bet.”

  “Nope.” Ria smiled and stood up. “I need to shower and meet with tech to get my earpiece. That may be the only equipment I get.”

  “I’ll be with your backup team in the hidden location.”

  “Great.” She paused. “Mathias?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I can do this.”

  “I know.” Protectiveness laced his voice.

  She grinned to herself. “Pretend I’m not a girl, okay?”

  He chuckled. “Okay. And definitely not a naked one.”

  “Thank you. I’ll see you later.” She ended the call and crossed the flagstones to the French doors, just in time to see Gin walking through the hall toward her.

  “Sorry I missed breakfast,” Gin said. “I was keeping Alina company. Her morning sickness is getting bad.”

  “Aw, poor thing,” Ria said. She was glad Gin was getting to spend time with the sister she’d only recently found. “You didn’t need to leave her. Turns out I have to go earlier than I thought.”

  “Nah, she fell asleep,” Gin said. “She’s either puking, feeling like puking, or sleeping. Since she was in the middle of the most comfortable option, I let her be.”

  “You’re a good sister.”

  “So are you. What’s up with leaving earlier? Did the party time change?”

  “Not the time.” Ria linked her arm through Gin’s. “Wanna walk to the tech department with me?”

  “Sure. Are you gonna get some cool gadget?” Gin asked. “And you didn’t answer my question.”

  “No, nothing fancy. Just an earpiece. Very common.”

  “Well, I’ve never seen one up close so that counts as a cool gadget in my opinion.” They made their way through the sleek marble halls. “So, this is for the job where you have to look at that statue?”

  “Yeah,” Ria said. “And guess what I’ll be wearing?”

  “Oooh, let me guess. Leather? Armor? No, wait, you’re serving drinks. Something tight with sequins? Is it totally tacky?” Gin’s eyes danced with mirth.