The End of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 4)

by Con Template

  “No matter where you hide, we will drag you back.”

  06: The Seduction of Gods

  “Is it a good idea to stay here?” Soo Jin asked minutes later, stepping into a colossal office at the top floor of the high-rise building.

  The office was enormous. Its opulent furniture and equipment radiated sophistication and wealth. There was a dashing mahogany desk that was placed in front of the gorgeous panoramic vista of the city. Behind the desk’s window, Soo Jin could see the sun’s brilliance spear through the cloudy skies. Shifting her gaze from the window, she measured the impressive room once more. The room was massive enough that it could have easily doubled as a grand penthouse. Captivated by the swirls of color on the walls, Soo Jin smirked as she looked at the abstract paintings that adorned the walls. She had to admit that the owner of this office had good taste. When she buys her next building, Soo Jin would definitely take notes from this office space.

  She stopped at the center of the room and edgily looked at the door. Although it was closing hour, she didn’t feel comfortable staying in someone else’s office. How awkward would it be if the owner walked in and found two strangers in his office?

  “Why not?” Tae Hyun inquired, closing the door so quietly that she didn’t even realize he was standing behind her until a whiff of his alluring cologne reached her nostrils.

  “Well, what if the owner comes in?” Soo Jin asked, whipping around and instinctively backing away from him.

  With the grace of a tiger, Tae Hyun stalked towards her with ease. “He already has.”

  “This is your office?” Her eyes widened incredulously. As she continued to back away, the palpitations of her heart increased by the second. She surveyed the building, utterly dumbfounded. “This is your company?”

  “I may have reign over the 3rd layer, but that doesn’t mean I’ve given up my passion for the 1st layer,” he explained coolly. There was a predatory gaze in his deep brown eyes as he spoke to her. It made her so hot that she could scarcely feel the air conditioning in the office. “This company is ran by the executives I’ve chosen myself and is personally ran by me when I have time. I perform my 3rd and 1st layer businesses in this building. It’s essentially my secret hideaway.”

  “And you told Yoori that your friends could offer her a job when you could’ve given it to her all along?” The words escaped her lips faster than she could have caught them. A part of her was outraged at this new revelation. It stunned her that he owned a company this entire time. Really? He didn’t think it was necessary to share this information?

  “Yoori is a prideful, ambitious, and stubborn girl,” he replied, smiling to himself in a way that only a boyfriend could when he thought about his girlfriend. His legs continued to inch forward while hers continued to retreat. “She would never work here under the pretenses of getting the job solely because her boyfriend owns the company. On my end, I didn’t plan on insulting her by offering it to her. God knows she already hated being my personal assistant. I doubt she would volunteer to work here. She would know that if I were her boss, I’d never let her out of this office.”

  “Why didn’t you tell her who you really were and showed her all of this?” Soo Jin inquired, her vigilant eyes on him like a wolf.

  Albeit she was on guard with him, her body was failing to meet the standards of her vigilance. To her horror, it kept playfully pulling her away from him, teasing the man they knew was a skilled hunter and predator.

  “All of this is merely a shell,” he suavely replied. “She already sees me for who I really am. That’s more than anyone else could say in this world.”

  “Why are we here, King of Serpents?” Soo Jin prompted sternly, quickly recognizing that at the moment, Kwon Tae Hyun had no intention of speaking to her as a King to a Queen, but as a man would to a woman. He was fucking speaking to her as a man would to a woman he wanted to seduce.

  “Because I haven’t seen you in a couple of days, and I’ve missed you,” he told her without filter, shocking her with his bluntness.

  Soon after, he stole her breath when he stalked her to the edge of the mahogany table. His body filled the frigid air between them and pressed against hers. Then, with a sensuous glide, he casually slipped his hands underneath her bare thighs and easily lifted her onto the table. Using her moment of distraction to his advantage, as he had probably anticipated the raging Queen to berate him for his audacity, he gracefully moved into the space between her legs. Arrogantly standing between her legs, his body heat stroked against her bare skin while his enticing eyes held hers.

  No one needed to tell Soo Jin what a precarious angle this was. They weren’t touching, but the position they were in not only encouraged it, but it also demanded that they mold against each other.

  “You’re afraid of me,” he mused out loud. He raised a free hand and brushed through the long curls of her hair. When he felt her breath teeter, he cupped a cheek with his hand. With lazy strength, he stroked his thumb close to her lips.

  “There are exactly eighteen different ways I could kill you right now,” she warned, sitting up straight. She attempted to ignore the pleasurable sensations he evoked with his mind-blowing caresses. “If you’re smart, then you’d better start backing away.”

  He expelled a laugh that reverberated throughout the room. It was a rich, deep tone that women dreamed of hearing every morning when they woke up from bed.

  “Do you not think I can kill you?” she incited frigidly, her fists curling at her sides. She didn’t do well with insults, and she wouldn’t tolerate being insulted by him.

  “You went easy on me the other night, Soo Jin,” he murmured appreciatively, soothing the inferno raging within her with his languid voice. “I’ve been spoiled. I know I'm in your debt. Of course I know you can kill me.”

  She stared up at him skeptically and tilted her head to the hand cradling her cheek. She bestowed him with a dangerous smile that only fools would mistake as welcoming. “Then why aren’t you backing away?”

  “All it takes is one way to kill me,” he prompted nonchalantly. Instead of backing away, he leaned forward and laid his hands flat on each side of her. He leveled his eyes with hers, giving her an unobstructed view of all the perfect features of his face. “Why aren’t you killing me?”

  “Don’t mistake my laziness to kill you right now for feelings towards you,” she clipped out, unwilling to shift away in fear. She stared at him dead in the eyes, noting that the small space caused their lips to nearly touch. The proximity of those tempting lips elicited nothing but sexual frustration from her. It took all her self-control to keep her traitorous lips from leaning forward and devouring his.

  Barely able to contain her own sensuous desires, she frostily said, “You’re still my enemy, and I’m just waiting for the day where I can kill you in front of the Underworld. Now, unless you want to get that defined ass of yours kicked, stop invading my space.”

  He favored her with a dazzling grin. He shook an amused head at her tenacity. “Isn’t it funny that although you go by different names, you and Yoori both have the uncanny ability to drive me crazy, tease me to death, and say just the right words to ruin the sensual mood I try to put us in?”

  “If that’s the case, why aren’t you getting up and giving me my space?”

  He sighed. Slowly and all but too deliberately, he pressed his forehead against hers. He strategically hovered those dangerous lips of his over hers, teasing her to death, but never kissing her. “I said you ruined the mood. I didn’t say you screwed up any endeavors on my part.”

  This would have been the perfect moment to head-butt him. It would have been the perfect moment to lift her leg up and kick him in the groin. With his guard down, it would have been the perfect moment for her to attack. However, Soo Jin seized none of the moments as she sat there quietly, allowing herself to indulge in his teasing.

  Damn.

  No man who had this type of power—the power to make a woman’s body feel alive with won
der—should ever be allowed out of captivity. He was simply too irresistible, too fantastically sexual, and too dangerous for any woman to try and fight off. If a woman of Soo Jin’s caliber was feeling a bit disjointed, then God help all the other women in the world because Kwon Tae Hyun was going to annihilate the entire female species with a simple, sensual smile.

  “You’re dangerous,” she murmured mindlessly. Satisfaction weighed on her lids, begging her to close her eyes so her body could enjoy his tempting endeavors.

  “No more than you are to me,” he crooned appreciatively.

  The feel of his breath on her skin sent chills to stream over Soo Jin’s tense body. She quietly cursed to herself. First he made her hot, now chills blanketed over her. This guy was definitely going to give her an aneurysm soon.

  “Are you cold, Soo Jin?” he asked seconds later, his fingers running from her kneecap to her thighs. He took stock of the shiver he gave her every time the breath from his lips touched her skin.

  “A little bit,” she stupidly admitted again, her cheeks flushing with need.

  He laughed, resting his eyes on the heels embellishing her feet.

  “I’m sure a pair of cute little black Uggs will make it better,” he whispered, focusing his attention on her long bare legs before returning to her eyes.

  Soo Jin smirked upon being inadvertently reminded that in this conversation, he wasn’t the only seductive God in the game.

  “Unlike a pair of powerful heels, Uggs do not evoke unrelenting fear from people.”

  “No,” he conceded carelessly, “but I’m sure they’ll keep those pretty little feet of yours warm.”

  Something in her heart dropped. She snapped out of her stupor when she registered why Tae Hyun was referencing the Uggs. She knew who he was referring to when he casually brought the shoes up. The reminder of that person caused a firestorm of rage to brew in her body.

  “Don’t you feel like you’re cheating on her right now?” she bit out, her now icy eyes berating his calm ones.

  Intrigue reflected on his face at her accusation. “Is it considered cheating when I want to win my girlfriend back?”

  “I was never your girlfriend,” she corrected, getting angrier and angrier by the second.

  Choi Yoori was his girlfriend—not her.

  Choi Yoori was the one who was emotionally attached to him—not her.

  She was only physically attracted to him. No harm, no foul there.

  “And I won’t be your girlfriend,” she declared with finality. Her stubborn heart meant every word of it. “I don’t care what you do. I don’t care how hot you are, and I don’t care how irresistible you may be—I won’t be your girlfriend.”

  Tae Hyun was silent for a brief second. The shift in his expression told her that even though he had anticipated her blatant hostility towards his advances, it didn’t mean it was easier for him to hear the object of his affections speak to him like he was a cursed plague.

  “How did Ji Hoon win you?” he asked out of the blue.

  For the first time, she saw a tinge of jealousy flicker in his eyes.

  “Why?”

  “I’m curious,” he retorted, aggravation laced in his voice. “I rarely get jealous of him. I find myself a bit envious now because Ji Hoon was the one who got you. Apparently, I’m not doing a very good job because you’re already so revolted by me.”

  Soo Jin clamped her lips shut. Initially, she was unwilling to enlighten him. However, when she saw the seriousness in his eyes and knew very well that he wouldn’t let this go, she said, “I became Ji Hoon’s girlfriend because I was vengeful, power-hungry, and self-serving. In addition to all that, I was young. I didn’t know better. He was delicious eye-candy, he had power, he promised vengeance for my father, and it was all very . . . attractive to me.”

  She smiled at Tae Hyun, enjoying the jealousy that brimmed out of his eyes. Eager to give him a taste of his own medicine, she decided to employ some teasing of her own.

  “Hmm . . .” Murmuring approvingly, her desirous eyes were locked with his curious ones as she slipped her hands underneath the black suit jacket he wore. She immersed herself with the texture of his dark blue dress shirt. She slowly eased the jacket off his shoulders, her fingers pressing tightly against his body. She reveled in the feel of the rippling muscles that tensed beneath the fabric.

  “Do you want to know why Ji Hoon is so attached to me?” she whispered softly, confidently.

  Her eyes held his while he allowed her fingers to dance against the planes of his body. She dragged her fingers towards the expanse of his muscular chest and began to unbutton the top three buttons, revealing a breathtaking glance of his sculpted chest.

  “Because he never had all of me.”

  There was intrigue in his eyes, a sense of relief that Ji Hoon had only been blessed with kissing her and had never been gifted with anything beyond a kiss. “You’re a virgin?”

  She supplied a smirk as her answer.

  In the two years that Soo Jin was with Ji Hoon, she had never given him her virginity. It wasn’t that he revolted her. On the contrary, she was very tempted to have sex with him. It wasn’t even that she was using sex as a weapon to keep him in order. The simple reason was that after years of training and killing men who attempted to rape her, she had come to treasure every bit of her virginity and wasn’t intent on giving it away so easily. Though she wouldn’t openly admit it to herself three years prior, and though Soo Jin had long given up on the fairytale wish for a Prince Charming, she still subconsciously found herself holding out for that one perfect guy.

  She evaluated Tae Hyun’s reaction. It did not elude her how subtle Tae Hyun was when he pulled her hands off of him and locked them down on the table. He wouldn’t let her touch him any further. Like an adept charmer, he knew the skills in making someone weak in the knees—make them break their cold exterior and yearn for you. Much like the sex she withheld from Ji Hoon, Tae Hyun withheld his body from her, only allowing her a sample of the gift she could receive. Although Soo Jin should have found relief in this, she didn’t. He was a master of seduction, the very thing that fantasies were made out of. And unfortunately for her, he was well aware of the power he possessed over her. He didn’t let her touch him, and worse, he didn’t touch her either. He merely stared at her and nearly drove her crazy with his sultry eyes.

  She had to rectify this.

  She could not allow herself to fall prey to his charms. Being this weak was simply not an option.

  “And I plan on being one until I die,” she told him coldly, lacing her voice with malice. “Sorry, seductive one, but the throne is more tantalizing to me than you. You can’t compete with it.”

  Offense gripped his eyes. He did not hesitate to combat that statement.

  “Can a throne keep you warm at night?” he asked pointedly, his lips drifting just above hers, its curves tempting her own mercilessly. “Can a throne run his lips all over you and worship you the way that pretty little body of yours is meant to be worshipped? Can a throne hold you in his arms and argue with you about the most nonsensical of things while secretly letting you win because all he cares about is making you happy? Can a throne give you phenomenal sex that will always leave you yearning for more? Can a throne give you his heart, what’s left of his soul, and kiss you with such adoration that you forget about the world?” He held her chin, staring deep into her eyes while measuring the answer she would give. “Can a throne do all that to you? Can it really rival me?”

  “You think you’re God’s gift to women,” she muttered bitterly, wondering how it was possible that a person could be so arrogant.

  “No,” he contended with effortless charm. “Any other women affected by my charms are casualties. I was gifted to you and only you.”

  Releasing her hands from his iron grip, he guided her fingers across the surface of his well-built body. He made sure she felt the strength and power that made up his existence.

  “This is all yours . . .”<
br />
  Words from a distant past inundated her mind, whipping her out of any possible stupor Tae Hyun could put her in.

  “I’m not Yoori,” she scowled, sobering up at the reference of her human counterpart. He had given himself to Yoori and only Yoori. She had not forgotten that; she would never move past it. She would be damned if she was anyone’s replacement. “I’m not the type of girl who allows anyone to sweep me off my feet, nor am I easily charmed. In saying that, I hope me being around you this long is enough to convince you that I’m not interested in you and that I will be more than happy to kill you. Now, if you’ll excuse me . . .”

  She hopped off the table in a flash and blatantly ignored the fact that he was standing there, watching her with quiet eyes. She strode away, gathering her bearings and what was left of her logicality. Soo Jin was near the exit when his voice jolted her to a stop.

  “I saw the trigger that Yoori watched.”

  She spun around. “Excuse me?”

  Her breath hitched when she saw that he was holding the heart-shaped necklace her father gave her— the very thing that decimated her amnesia and revived her. The pendant was dancing in midair while the silver chain hung listlessly from Tae Hyun’s index finger. As he stretched his hand out, his perceptive eyes noted her interest.

  “In your haste for your grand entrance the other night, you forgot your USB stick.”

  Soo Jin berated herself for forgetting something as important as a gift from her father. With her heart racing, she swept across the room and seized the necklace from his offering finger.

  A smile broke out on his face—a warm, genuine smile that only the love of his life was ever bequeathed with. “Is it too forward of me to say how human you appeared in that video?”

  “Then you watched the end,” she prompted tightly, internally horrified that someone else had seen herself in that pathetic state.

  This USB stick held the most important moments of her life in its hands. It was the very trigger for everything that had transpired, and she was appalled that, of all people, it was Kwon Tae Hyun who saw its contents. She was embarrassed, she felt threatened, and now she felt all the more vulnerable standing in front of him. It did not matter that she had gathered her bearings before the video ended. The fact was that she still looked pathetically human in that video recording. It enraged her that it must have given Tae Hyun some sort of unrealistic hope that there was a chance for her to be “human” again.