In fact the two closely resembled one another.
The dark, smoldering beauty. The lean, sculpted features. The thin lips framed by the trimmed goatee.
Demons who preyed on the weaknesses of females.
“Trust me, I was equally surprised,” she muttered.
He smiled with mocking amusement. “But you obeyed.”
She could feel her face tightening. It didn’t matter how many times she told herself she didn’t give a damn about this male’s opinion, he always managed to make her feel like uptight ass-kisser for doing what was right.
“I understand duty.”
“Implying that I don’t?”
She refused to rise to the challenge. The aggravating, intoxicating creature was just waiting for the opportunity to mock her rigid devotion to her position.
Instead she shrugged aside his question. “We need to speak.”
“Then speak.” He lowered his gaze to watch the brunette kiss her way down his washboard stomach.
Sloane rolled her eyes as the blonde on the other side of Tiege tried to dislodge the brunette.
“In private,” she snapped.
“Later.” He didn’t bother to glance at her. “In case you didn’t notice, we’re having a party.”
Sloane was fairly certain that there was no one in Vegas who wasn’t aware there was a party in the elegant suite. The sounds of a hundred voices shouting over the throbbing music had swelled to a deafening level despite the fact that it was still early in the evening. And that didn’t include the crash of expensive bottles of champagne and the person who was throwing up in a nearby bathroom.
“This is important,” she insisted.
“What could be more important than this?” He waved a languid hand around the vast room that looked like it could have been plucked from an English mansion. “Good food, good wine, and exceptional company.”
“I don’t know,” she said in dry tones. “Maybe the reason we’re here.”
He flashed his wicked smile, threading his fingers in the brunette’s hair as she inched ever closer to the massive erection that was disturbingly obvious beneath the silk boxers. “There’s only one reason to be in Vegas.”
She took an instinctive step back as an odd pain twisted her heart.
“Fine,” she hissed. “You don’t want to listen, then don’t blame me when there’s no ceremony.”
She turned on her heel and marched toward the door. Enough was enough. Let the bastard deal with the mess.
“Christ, you’re a pain,” Tiege growled from behind her. Then, without warning, he gave a sharp clap of his hands. “Everyone out.”
CHAPTER TWO
Tiege folded his arms over his chest as he watched the human females scurry from the room.
He should have been furious.
The fun was just getting started when Sloane had forced her way into his room and disrupted his plans for a few hours of mindless pleasure.
But he could barely work up a vague sense of disappointment as the giggling gaggle disappeared into the drunken revelry that still raged in the outer suite. If he were completely honest, he’d admit that he’d been going through the motions since his arrival in Vegas. The expensive suite, the cases of expensive hooch, the females…
He told himself it was because he was focused on the upcoming ceremony and the potential hope the pendant might help them rid the Obsidian Throne of its current Sovereign.
What was more important than revenge?
Nothing, that was what.
But that didn’t explain the sudden sparks of excitement that buzzed through his body the second Sloane had entered the room.
It was crazy.
She was dressed like a biker, her glorious honey hair was scraped into a ponytail and her delicate features were scrubbed clean of any hint of makeup. Not at all his style. But that hadn’t kept his cock from stiffening as she’d halted at the end of the bed, her expression so pinched she looked like she’d just eaten a lemon.
Every time it happened, he told himself it was nothing more than a basic reaction to the female’s blatant disapproval. There was something highly erotic in the thought of melting that brittle censure off her pretty face and teaching her exactly what she was missing.
What male didn’t enjoy a female who played hard to get?
Something all too rare for an Incubus.
And the only reason he hadn’t already had her in his bed was out of respect for his brother. This female was a cousin to his beloved Portia. It made the entire situation…complicated.
So instead he took out his sexual frustration by mocking her rigid devotion to duty and lack of anything approaching humor.
Hey, a man had to have some pleasure.
The door closed and Tiege turned to send his companion a humorless smile. “Are you happy?”
Her lips thinned. “Why should I be happy?”
“You managed to ruin the party,” he pointed out, inanely wondering if there was anything that made this woman happy. “Wasn’t that what you wanted?”
Her chin tilted. “All I want is a quiet dinner, a glass of wine, and a comfortable bed.”
He couldn’t resist. Hell, he didn’t want to resist.
Deliberately advancing, he crowded her toward the nearby mattress. “Why didn’t you say so?”
Predictably, Sloane was swift to back away. For six months she’d acted like his touch was something that might contaminate her. Hell, she could barely be in the same room without inching along the wall until she was as far away from him as possible.
It pissed him off.
“What do you mean?” she demanded.
“If you’re looking for a bed—”
“I have my own,” she interrupted in sharp tones.
“Does it ever get lonely?” he taunted, lifting his arm to trail his fingers along the side of her pale face. “Or does your duty keep you heated during the long nights?”
She jerked away, sending him a glare that could strip the paint off the walls. “Why do you have to be so obnoxious to me?”
He unconsciously rubbed his fingers together, savoring the potent charge that shuddered through him.
Christ. Beneath all that starch and vinegar, the female was seething with sexual energy. Temptation curled through the pit of his stomach, taunting him with what he couldn’t have.
“Because you make it irresistible,” he informed her.
“Of course it’s my fault,” she muttered, pretending that her cheeks weren’t heating with an arousal she couldn’t entirely disguise. She might want to stick him with her obsidian blade, but she still desired him. “Would you like to hear my report?”
Did he? Nope. Not at all. What he wanted was to tumble her back onto the mattress and strip off that leather jacket and…
He sucked in a deep breath, shivering at the sweet scent of honeysuckle. “Not particularly, but you’ve made it clear you’re not going to leave me in peace until you’ve had your say.”
Her jaw clenched. “I traveled to pick up the Nephilim who’d agreed to be your companion during the ceremony only to discover that word has gone out from the priestesses that the Houses are rising up against the Obsidian Throne and can’t be trusted.”
Tiege stiffened, his hand lifting as he used his power to lock the door.
Any thoughts of parties or getting Sloane naked on his bed were forgotten as released his breath in a frustrated hiss.
He should have been prepared.
The Masters had suspected the Three had been assisting Marakel in maintaining his control of the Obsidian Throne. Not to mention the fact that they’d refused to step down and allow their successors to replace them.
And then Sloane had revealed that they’d been using their Blades to kill human females who became impregnated by their Incubi lovers.
It was a flashing red light that the Three would do everything in their power to prevent the Houses from rising up to destroy the Sovereign.
“Treacherous bi
tches,” he growled. “They’re afraid their own sins will be revealed.”
Sloane nodded. “That would be my guess.”
He lifted a hand to shove his fingers through his hair. “When you came to Petros you said they could no longer be trusted.”
“I couldn’t accept that their method of destroying helpless innocents was a holy duty.” She shuddered, her glorious hazel eyes flecked with gold darkening with pain. “Even if they did brand me a traitor.”
For the first time since meeting his aggravating female, Tiege truly considered the price she’d paid for leaving the temple.
Only a select few Nephilim were chosen to train as Blades. It was a position of honor that very few would have been willing to abandon, no matter the cost of staying. And now she was a lowly House guard, knowing that her job had been given to her out of a sense of pity.
Maybe it wasn’t any wonder she was so prickly.
He grimaced, a rare sense of regret tightening his chest. “We should have paid closer attention.”
“I…” She licked her lips, regarding him with a wary suspicion. It was the first time he’d offered her the respect she deserved for her painful decision. “Anyway, most Nephilim accept the priestesses’ commands. Not one of them would agree to travel with me to aid in your efforts.”
He shook his head. “Impossible,” he growled. “There has to be a female who isn’t frightened of the bitches.”
Her lips flattened. “I’m telling you the truth. I used every contact I have, trying to find a willing companion.”
Muttering a curse, he crossed the room to grab his phone off the desk. Then, punching in a number, he paced to stare out the glass wall that overlooked the Strip.
Twenty minutes later, he tossed the phone back on the desk.
“Dammit,” he snarled, frustration thundering through him.
He’d called over a dozen of his most trusted contacts only to have them refuse to answer, or give him some lame excuse of why they couldn’t travel to Vegas to be his companion.
“Not as irresistible as you believed?” Sloane drawled in sweet tones.
Tiege whirled, intending to snap back a reply. This was serious. More than serious.
If he didn’t get a Nephilim to feed on…
His thoughts shattered as his gaze landed on her slender body and defensive expression as she prepared for his usual mockery. Abruptly he was struck by a thought.
A hideous, gloriously irresistible thought.
“You find this amusing?” he murmured, strolling back across the room.
“Why would I?” she demanded, making a half-assed effort to disguise her pleasure at the thought of him being turned down by the females.
“Because you love the thought of my arrogance being smashed?”
She snorted. “I sincerely doubt that anything could smash your arrogance. It’s titanium plated.”
His brooding gaze swept over her upturned face, lingering on her delicate features. He’d already had a sip of her energy. What would those lush lips taste like?
He was betting on honeysuckle.
Warm, sweet honeysuckle.
His cock stiffened, his balls tight as he envisioned those lips wrapping around the head of his erection to give him a slow, thorough suck.
“Perhaps,” he said, his voice low and rough. “But just in case you’re tempted to gloat, you should consider what this means.”
She shivered, unconsciously reacting to the power of his sex pheromones. Sloane might have demon blood flowing through her veins, but she wasn’t entirely impervious to his powers. A fact he fully intended to use to his advantage.
“I assume you’ll have to feed on humans.” She waved a hand toward the closed door, trying to disguise the delectable heat that was staining her cheeks. “Luckily you have a few dozen Thralls who are ready and eager to provide your dinner.”
He stepped closer. It was his turn to shiver.
Now that he’d at last lowered his defenses, he could feel that raw, natural power pulse against him.
Goddamn. She would have been a favorite in the Harem.
“A human can’t provide the energy I need for the ceremony,” he said, his voice threaded with a golden power.
Not that he needed it.
The rich scent of her deepening arousal had far more to do with a female intrigued by a male than a Nephilim in the thrall of an Incubus.
“As I said, there’s dozens of them out there,” she stubbornly muttered.
A step closer. Close enough that the supple leather of her jacket brushed against his bare skin.
“It’s not quantity, it’s quality.” His gaze lowered to where her pulse pounded at the base of her throat. “I need the power of a Nephilim.”
She instinctively tried to back away only to jerk to a halt when her legs hit the edge of the bed. Tiege ground his teeth. Dammit. After tonight she wouldn’t be so eager to try and avoid his touch.
He’d make damned sure of that.
“They refused to travel here. Maybe if you performed the ceremony near the temple you could feed—”
“It has to be here,” he interrupted.
The hazel eyes smoldered with flecks of gold. “Surely your orgy isn’t as important as the need to discover the truth about the pendant?”
“An orgy is always more important,” he assured her, pressing a finger against her lips as she prepared to slay him with her tongue. “But I wasn’t referring to being in Vegas. I need to perform the ceremony in the Mojave Desert.”
She jerked her head, knocking away his finger. “Why?”
Again Tiege felt that intense annoyance at her rejection of his touch. He forced himself not to wrap his arms around her and jerk her against his body.
Patience.
“It’s the spot where the barrier between life and death is the thinnest,” he instead revealed.
A portion of her righteous anger faltered. “Oh.”
“Yes, oh,” he drawled.
“Perfect.” She wrinkled her nose. “It seems we’re screwed. I don’t see how we’re going to get a Nephilim unless you want me to try and capture one.”
A slow, wicked smile curved his lips. “Actually, we already have one.”
“You do?” Her brows snapped together. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because she just arrived.” He allowed his gaze to lower, taking a slow, deliberate survey of her rigid body.
“Who—” She sucked in a sharp breath as she belatedly realized who the Nephilim in question was. “No. No way.”
His hand reached to cup her cheek in his hand, the scent of honeysuckle wrapping around him as her body reacted to the promise of becoming his willing sacrifice.
Anticipation licked through him, igniting the sexual hunger he’d tried so hard to keep suppressed around this female. He gloried in the sensations. Christ, he hadn’t felt this level of need for…six months.
Not since this female had appeared in his home with her defiant expression and ability to stir strange sensations that he sensed were too dangerous to indulge.
His thumb brushed over her lush lips, the sparks of energy shooting up his arm.
“Beggars can’t be choosers.”
Her lips parted, but before she could speak, his hands spanned her waist. With one fluid motion he had her lifted off her feet, then before she could yank out her obsidian blade and stab him in the heart, he tossed her onto the bed.
~
Sloane felt the air knocked from her lungs as she hit the mattress. Or maybe it was shock that stole her breath.
Or fury.
Whatever it was, it wasn’t excitement.
Hell no.
How dare this male assume that she would allow him to feed off her? She wasn’t a concubine. Or a willing Thrall.
She was a warrior.
“Have you lost your mind?” she rasped, pushing herself up to her elbows so she could glare into his beautiful face.
He placed a knee on the edge of the bed, ho
vering above her like an avenging angel.
Or more likely, a devil.
The lean, starkly gorgeous features had softened with a smoldering sensuality that glided over her like a warm caress.
A delicate hint of his Incubus powers.
“You were the one insisting that I concentrate on my duty,” he reminded her, his eyes glowing like melted copper. The scent of exotic spices filled the air, clouding her thoughts. “Feeding is part of that duty.”
She licked her lips, trying to clear her thoughts. Her body was softening as he leaned forward. Lust pulsed between them, battering through the barriers she struggled so hard to build between them.
“Not on me,” she insisted.
His gaze lingered on her mouth that suddenly felt swollen. As if preparing for his kisses.
“Why not?” he demanded, reaching out to grasp the sleeve of her leather jacket.
She was frozen as he tugged her arm out of the jacket. She should be knocking his hand away. And leaping off the bed. Or stabbing him with her dagger.
Instead she lay there like a stupid doll, allowing him to peel her out of her coat to reveal the miniscule muscle shirt beneath.
“I’m a Blade,” she muttered. Lame, truly lame.
His lips twitched. “No longer.”
“I’ve been trained as a warrior, not to…”
Her words trailed away as another blast of Incubus magic pulsed against her.
Christ. She was almost choking on her lust.
“Have sex?” he finished for her.
“Yes.” Her teeth ground together.
“Don’t worry,” he assured her in low tones. “I’m an expert.”
With a flick of his hand he tossed aside her jacket, grimacing as it hit the floor with a heavy thud. Well what the hell did he expect? She’d just pointed out she was a warrior. That meant she didn’t wear little flimsy things. Her coat was loaded with her weapons.
Dismissing her lack of feminine appeal, Tiege planted his hand on the pillow beside her head, his molten gaze running a path of destruction down her rigid body.
“Wait,” she breathed, trembling with an odd combination of fear and an intense, obnoxious yearning. “This is going way too fast.”
“Have you ever fed an Incubus?”
Masters of Seduction Volume 2: Books 5-8: Paranormal Romance Box Set Page 20