~
Javan held Naomi in his arms as he watched the sun rise through the window. Whether she knew it or not, Naomi had changed his life.
His course was set. Despite his valiant attempt to walk away from her and her exquisite body, Javan had made love to her well past eight times.
He was now tied to her. His life depended on whether they had sex or not. No other would he be able to touch. Only Naomi.
Javan kissed the top of her head and tightened his arm. She was new to their world. It had been reckless of him to take her last night. He should’ve known he wouldn’t be able to stop after just one time. He’d known it the moment they kissed.
And yet he didn’t stop it.
He’d given it a half-hearted try, which had done nothing.
The door to the library cracked open. Elijah came in carrying a tray without looking at Javan. After Elijah set the tray down, he retrieved the one that was untouched from the night before. Elijah left without a word, the door closing softly behind him.
“Do I smell food?” Naomi asked with her eyes still closed.
Javan smiled. “I suppose that means you’re hungry?”
“Starving, actually.” Her eyes opened and she smiled up at him.
Javan’s heart was seized. This woman was his. All he could de was pray she gave him a chance to earn her love. “Morning.”
“Morning.” She turned her head and yawned before she sat up. “How did we get on the couch?”
Javan loved how the morning sun filtered through her golden locks. “I put us here.”
Naomi’s blue eyes slid to him. “It was quite a night.”
“Yes, it was.”
“I’ve never experienced anything like that before.”
Javan felt his chest expand. “Neither have I.”
A blond brow rose as she looked at him skeptically. “Really?”
“Really.” Javan sat up and smoothed a lock of hair away from her face. “Naomi, there’s something I must talk to you about.”
“Can you talk and eat at the same time? Because if I sit here any longer, I’m going to start gnawing on the couch.”
Javan laughed and nodded. They rose from the sofa with Naomi wrapping a blanket under her arms and tucking the end. She didn’t wait on him as she hurried to the food and grabbed a piece of sausage to stuff in her mouth.
He put on his pants, but didn’t fasten them. Naomi had already taken a seat at the table when Javan reached it. He dished food onto his plate, wondering how to broach the subject of their joining.
Javan moved his plate and saw an envelope. He pulled it out and opened it to find Elijah’s handwriting with a single name written on the sheet of paper.
“What’s that?” Naomi asked.
He handed it to her. “The name of your sister’s killer.”
She took it from him and read the name as she finished chewing and swallowing her food. “Are you sure?”
“Elijah is never wrong. After breakfast, you can shower and change, and we’ll go pay him a visit.”
“Is he is part of your family?”
Javan shook his head, relieved that the murderer was from another House.
“Will you turn him over to the police?”
“No. We have our own brand of justice.”
She wiped her mouth with the napkin and drank some orange juice. “Would you mind if we go now?”
“Not at all. I’ll show you to the room you can use.”
They walked from the library. Javan decided it would be better not to bring up their bond now. Naomi needed closure regarding her sister. Perhaps after, he could bring it up.
He was prepared to do whatever it took to woo her. All he had thought about was holding Naomi in his arms.
He stopped next to a door and opened it. “I asked Elijah to pick up a few things for you.”
“Did you know I was going to be spending the night?” she asked with a little smile.
“I’d hoped, but I asked it of Elijah a few hours ago.”
Her blue eyes grew round. “Did you sleep at all?”
“Not really.” Javan closed the distance and drew her against him. He gave her a soft kiss. “I was too busy making love to you.”
“You’ve thought of everything, it seems.”
Not even close, but she didn’t need to know that. “Take your time. When you’re ready, you’ll find Elijah waiting for you out here.”
Javan walked away from her with difficulty. His strides lengthened as he focused on the one thing he could control—bringing Rebecca’s killer to justice.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Naomi stood in front of the full-length mirror looking over herself. Everything she could possibly need, from scented soap to makeup to clothes, was available.
She couldn’t decide if she should be offended that he had everything there for his female guests, or flattered that the makeup was all new and the clothes—also new—fit to perfection.
The thick-heeled brown booties looked great with the faded denim, but it was the light pink short-sleeved tee beneath the thin charcoal gray cardigan that hung to her hips that she loved the most.
It was one of those T-shirts that women searched their entire lives for. It had a semi-fitted shape, but was fluid enough to appear sexy. Now if only she had one of every color.
Naomi’s smile faded as she remembered where she was going. She walked from the room and found Elijah standing in the hallway just as Javan had said he would be.
“Ready?” he asked and started down the hall.
She followed him for several steps. “Thank you for the clothes and other things.”
“It was my pleasure.”
“Is it something you do often? You know, buying clothes for women?” She really wished she hadn’t asked that, especially when Elijah halted and turned to look at her.
His dark eyes held no censure or anger. Merely...curiosity. “You have no idea, do you?”
Naomi wasn’t sure what to make of his statement. “I guess not. What are you talking about?”
“He’s never brought a woman here. You read about us yesterday, so you know how long Javan has been alive.”
She did, thanks to the book she had read that listed the birthdates of him and his brothers. Javan was over seven hundred and thirty-two years old.
“As for the items purchased for you, Javan was very specific as to what he wanted. I simply procured the items on his list.”
Naomi had no words. What did one say in a situation like this? She was taken aback, shocked, dazed, and a hundred other feelings at the news.
But she was also beyond pleased. A kernel of joy had blossomed into a field of delight. Javan had done all of it for her. Not other women, but her.
“Oh.”
Elijah smiled, his eyes crinkling in the corners. “I take it by the look on your face that this pleases you?”
“Definitely.”
“Good. Javan deserves happiness. He’s waiting for you.”
Naomi followed Elijah once more. As she recalled the text she read, a frown grew. “Elijah, if a Nephilim is the only way for your kind to continue, why aren’t more of you married? Why is there a need for the Harem?”
“Because Nephilim began to trick us into taking them as ours, and then refusing to share our beds.”
She was sickened by what Elijah said. “But a mated Incubus can only have sex with his woman. Without it, he dies.”
“Precisely. However, the Nephilim still has immortality.”
Well, no wonder the Harem was set up. If she was an Incubus she certainly wouldn’t trust any Nephilim. How would she ever know if she could trust one?
“It’s why you looked into my past, isn’t it?” Naomi asked.
Elijah nodded his head of dark curls. “My job is to protect Javan as the Master of House Drohas. Many Nephilim have tried to get close to him over the years.”
“Then why let me?”
“Because of Rebecca,” Elijah said as he reached a door a
nd put his hand on the knob. He stopped and waited for her to reach him. “She didn’t deserve her fate, and you were only seeking information on her killer.”
“Did you foresee last night?”
“I see the way Javan looks at you. You intrigued him, but you also made him want to help you. I knew eventually the two of you would end up together.”
Naomi looked down at her shoes. “Only for a night. I’m really not ready for it to end.”
Without another word, Elijah opened the door. Naomi looked up and saw Javan leaning back against his Jaguar. He wore dark slacks and a pale yellow dress shirt that was opened at the neck, showing her the bronze skin of his throat.
She had kissed that throat, felt his pulse against her tongue. In an instant, she was transported back to their night of inconceivable passion.
A night where no protection was used and they had sex more times than she could remember. Naomi was going to have to make Javan understand that she hadn’t done that in an attempt to trick him. In truth, she had been so wrapped up in their desire that rational thought had vanished.
Naomi walked toward Javan as he pushed off the car and shot a smile at her. Her knees wobbled at the sight of him. He was gorgeous, but it wasn’t just his looks. It was the way he made her feel. The way he made love to her.
Javan opened the car door for her. Only after she was getting into the backseat did she realize Elijah was driving. Javan walked around and climbed in beside her.
Naomi clasped her hands together in her lap as the car drove away from the house. So much for having some time to talk to Javan. She didn’t know how much time she had left with Javan, but it was important that he understand she hadn’t attempted to trick him.
She listened as Javan spoke of the prisoner. He was from the House Marakel, which had control of the Obsidian Throne. Politics never interested her, but whether she liked it or not, the Incubi were now part of her world. She needed to know the ins and outs of things.
“The fact Marakel won’t give up the Throne is a worry to all of us. We just learned that Canaan Romerac, who we thought had been dead for half a millennium, had actually been imprisoned the entire time. More and more secrets are coming to the surface,” Javan said with a shake of his head. “I suspect the Incubus who killed your sister wasn’t here by accident.”
Naomi whipped her head around to him, fear tightening her stomach. “You think he was after you?”
“We’re about to find out,” Elijah said as he stopped the car.
Naomi looked out the window to find they were parked in front of a warehouse at the docks. She opened the door, and before she could step out, Javan was at her side. She took his offered hand, liking the warmth that surrounded her when his fingers closed around hers.
As they walked toward the door, Naomi spotted several other men stationed around the warehouse.
“A precaution,” Javan said. “My men are everywhere. Some you can see, and some you can’t.”
“All for one man?” she asked.
Javan was the first to enter the warehouse. He stepped over the threshold and moved to the side to await her. “Rebecca isn’t the only woman he’s killed during his year in Sydney.”
Naomi saw the man sitting in the middle of the empty warehouse on a chair. He wasn’t tied, which made her wary. At any moment he could get up and run. What was keeping him there?
Then she saw the dozens of men above them watching him. Ah. Well, that would certainly keep her in the chair as well.
Elijah put his hand on her shoulder to halt her in the shadows as Javan continued on. Naomi looked at Elijah, but his gaze was on Javan.
“Go to him,” she told Elijah. “I’ll stay here.”
“Javan has ordered me to protect you. That’s what I’m doing.”
She flattened her lips at his tone. Then her eyes returned to Javan. He strode with long, sure strides to the man before he halted in front of the chair.
Naomi saw Javan in profile, and even from that angle she could see the cold fury in Javan’s face. In that moment she was reminded that he wasn’t human, but a sex demon. He had wealth and power in degrees she couldn’t fathom. With one word he could stamp out someone’s life.
And still she wanted to be with him.
“Well, Frank,” Javan said, his voice holding just the right amount of seething rage. “You have one chance to tell me what you’re doing in Australia.”
“I don’t have to answer to you.” Frank snorted, a cocky smile upon his handsome face.
Javan’s smile held no mirth. “You’re in my territory, and you’ve been killing humans.”
“Not humans,” Frank stated.
So he had known Becky was a Nephilim. Had the others he’d killed also been half angel? Naomi hated that her sister had been duped by an attractive face and pretty words. Becky hadn’t known what they were. She couldn’t have been prepared for the seductive urgings being so near an Incubus caused.
Javan put his hands in his pants pockets. “So you’re after Nephilim. Why? You kill them and we can’t carry on our line.”
Naomi saw Javan jerk slightly. She glanced at Elijah to see his jaw clenched tightly.
Javan gave a bark of laughter. “So that’s your angle. You wipe out the Nephilim in Australia to prevent my line from carrying on. Do you forget about the Harem?”
“Marakel is the only one capable of ruling. He’ll remain on the Obsidian Throne for eternity.”
“Without an heir, himself?” Javan asked. Then his eyes widened. “I see. You intend that the only one to use the Harem is Marakel. Nice play.”
Frank’s smile widened. “Everything was working perfectly except that Elijah was supposed to take the fall for the killings.”
Naomi felt Elijah’s fury, but he didn’t make a move.
Javan walked slowly around Frank. “You made several mistakes. First, in thinking you could come to my land and not be discovered. Second, in believing you could frame Elijah. You really should know your adversaries before you wage war on them. Third, in taking the lives of the Nephilim.”
“You know the Nephilim can’t be trusted,” Frank said with a sneer. “All they want is immortality. They offer one daughter to the Harem in the hopes that one of their other offspring will catch the eye of an Incubus for immortality.”
Naomi winced. Did all Incubi think this way of her kind? No wonder the Incubi turned to the Harem as a way to continue their line.
She was really going to have her work cut out for her in regards to Javan. He didn’t say anything to oppose Frank’s views. Naomi knew she couldn’t be a part of Javan’s life, but she really didn’t want him thinking ill of her.
Not when she thought so highly of him.
“I would have given you the opportunity to leave Australia and return to Marakel with what transpired here,” Javan said. He stopped in front of Frank. “But you murdered. That’s punishable by death.”
Frank’s face went slack. “It’s not for you to decide.”
“It is.” Javan took a deep breath. “Australia is Drohas domain, you idiot. You knew to be caught meant death.”
Naomi suspected it was coming, but she still jumped when Javan took two steps and snapped Frank’s neck.
Without so much as a backward glance at Frank, Javan released him and walked to her. He stopped in front of her, his dark eyes searching hers.
“Rebecca has been avenged.”
She swallowed, glancing around him to Frank’s dead body. “And the other girls he killed?”
“We’re notifying their families,” Elijah said.
Naomi turned at Javan’s urging. They walked side by side from the warehouse. “What happens to Frank now?”
“He’ll be sent to Marakel.”
“Aren’t you afraid of Marakel’s retribution?”
Javan halted next to the car and opened the door for her. “It’s past time for him to give up the Throne. He’s attacking Houses in an attempt to weaken us, but what he doesn’t know is that
a meeting has been called. Marakel won’t be the Sovereign for much longer.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Javan had hoped killing Frank would give him some measure of relief, but all it did was prove that he would go to great lengths for Naomi.
Sure, he killed Frank because the bastard had come to Australia with the sole purpose of trying to harm the House of Drohas, not to mention all the Nephilim he had murdered. But it paled in comparison to Javan’s need to hurt Frank as he had hurt Naomi.
Javan felt Elijah’s eyes on him through the rearview mirror. He ignored his Watchman and tried to find some way of telling Naomi that they were mated.
She hadn’t said much since he left her to shower. It was obvious by the way she fiddled with her nails that something was on her mind. Was she trying to find a way to cut clean of him?
He hoped to hell that wasn’t what was going through her mind, but Javan had already planned for that, should it happen. He would give her space. But he wasn’t going to give up on her. He would do whatever it took to convince her they were meant to be together.
The silence in the car as they drove back to his house was deafening. Many times he wanted to ask what she was thinking. In all his years with Elijah, there was little he kept from his friend, but this was a conversation Javan didn’t want others to overhear.
By the time they reached the house, his gut felt as if it was held within an iron fist. He climbed out of the car and walked around to Naomi’s side. Javan opened the door and helped her out. Her gaze met his briefly before she looked away.
His chest constricted painfully.
It wasn’t until they were inside the house that Naomi asked, “So that’s it? It’s over?”
It was far from over, but he didn’t want to tell her about the war he knew was coming. She had just been introduced to their world. It was better if she slowly learned of the conflict instead of tossing it at her like a bucket of water.
“For now.” Javan saw Elijah’s quick look in his direction. He put his hand on Naomi’s back and gave a little pressure so she would walk with him.
“You’re not telling me everything,” she said.
Javan smiled at her perception. “No, I’m not. Though I’m not keeping it from you because I don’t want you to know. You need to know, but you don’t have to learn everything right now.”
Masters of Seduction Volume 2: Books 5-8: Paranormal Romance Box Set Page 12