by Angie Fox
I finally understood why Dimitri had sought me out and why he couldn’t tell me the truth right away. The other day on the side of the road, I wasn’t ready to hear about the fifth-level demon who’d taken his family. I didn’t want to know I was destined to face that demon or that I’d lose someone too. I wasn’t ready for my future or for Dimitri. But that had changed.
“I’m going to pass out.” I sat on the side of the road with my head between my knees. The sunrise sent a tumble of red and orange streaks across the sky. I’d made Dimitri pull over in Tupelo, Mississippi. We had to keep moving. I knew that. But my arms felt so weak, my body so tired, I was afraid I’d fly off the bike like a tiddlywink if Dimitri hit one more pothole.
“When was the last time you ate?” he asked, rifling around in his backpack.
“Not a good idea,” I said, my stomach threatening to riot. “I’m just…exhausted.”
“Come on.” Dimitri gathered me up in his arms. Yum. It felt too good. His warm, masculine scent nearly undid me. But as utterly content as I felt at the moment, I couldn’t, I wouldn’t go back to that bike.
“Oh no,” I said, muffled in his shirt as he strode toward the Harley. “Let me die on the side of the road. I’m not cut out to be a biker babe.”
“Hold on,” he said, placing me back on the hog. “We gotta get you out of the open. I noticed a safe spot a few miles back. We’ll go slow, okay?”
I nodded. “Where are you taking me?” Did he know of another hideout nearby? If werewolves ran Shoney’s, perhaps a dragon BBQ joint would be just the spot—or maybe Dimitri knew of a Denny’s run by leprechauns. I’d even be open to a mermaid water park. Anything to get me off this bike for an hour or two. “Where in the world of weird creatures are you taking me?”
“Motel 6.”
I never would have thought of Motel 6 as a great place to take a break from werewolf fights and black soul possession, but we sure could have done worse. The bored teenager who checked us in was too busy chomping her gum to notice the switch stars I’d forgotten to take off my belt. She simply twirled a Kool Aid–red lock of hair and informed us we had a room at the back of the hotel, second floor.
This place was the Taj Mahal compared to the trailer I’d shared with Ant Eater. Much cuter company too, I mused, as Dimitri tossed his backpack onto the king-size bed.
Wait.
Dimitri was assuming a heck of a lot.
I eyed the humongous bed with its quilted seashell comforter. “Planning to sleep in the bathtub, are you?”
Dimitri flashed a smile that was pure sin. “If you’d been paying attention to the clerk instead of trying to hide your switch stars behind the gumball machine, you’d have heard for yourself. They only have kings left.”
“Yeah, well don’t get fresh.”
Just my luck he listened.
Dimitri didn’t try to peek when I took a shower, refused to look when I climbed under the covers and allowed me to sleep unmolested for the next fourteen hours.
Jerk.
My head felt hazy when I woke up to find him propped up in bed next to me. He held a small object in his hand, like a pocket watch. Inside glowed the image of two girls, asleep.
His sisters.
It hurt to think about everything he’d lost. All the same, I was glad he finally trusted me with the truth about why he’d hunted me down and why he wanted Vald dead.
I was about to ask him about his sisters when another thought hit me like a riptide. I sat up so fast I nearly knocked the thing out of his hand. “I know where the witches are,” I gasped.
The Dixie Queen was moored in a deserted inlet of the Yazoo River, just south of the Tallahatchie. Before that moment, if anyone had asked me to find the Yazoo, I wouldn’t have been able to point it out on a map. Now I knew exactly how to get there. I didn’t know how I knew, I just did. Every one of the Red Skulls had made it. Thank goodness.
Dimitri shoved the object in his pocket. “Yeah, I know too,” he said, somewhat annoyed. “Ant Eater got me on my cell.”
Of course.
Speaking of slaying fifth-level demons, we had to get moving. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“You need all the strength you can get.” He gazed at me intently. “A window will open, Lizzie. Tomorrow. It’s time to face Vald.”
Holy schniekies. A little warning would have been nice. I didn’t even like pop quizzes in school, much less a surprise ultimate face-off with an evil demon. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“You were throwing switch stars in the dirt.”
Yeah, yeah, and beheading the Shoney’s Big Boy. I didn’t need a reminder of how much I’d screwed up.
“Adding a deadline didn’t seem like the best approach,” Dimitri said matter-of-factly.
Truth be told, I was glad. Grandma needed help, the quicker the better.
“Vald has been drawing strength from your grandma, and from the remains of my family. But drawing energy is like sucking soda from a straw. Every once in a while, you have to take a breath. Tomorrow at midnight, Vald will take that breath. He’ll be open, more vulnerable. It’s the best time to strike.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding one too many times. “How do you know all this?”
“Everyone knows,” he said, too matter-of-fact for my taste.
“Oh sure. Why not?” Everyone but me.
He shrugged. “Your grandma saw it in her vision before she was taken. Scarlet was there.” So Scarlet knew and Dimitri and the coven. Heck, I’m sure Pirate had even heard of it by now.
“Fine,” I said. We were going to deal with this. Later. In the meantime, “What’s the plan?”
“We rest. Prepare. Tomorrow morning, we’ll head out and meet the coven at the Dixie Queen. We’re about four hours out.” He checked his watch absently. “They’re expecting us at noon. We’ll discuss strategy. Then we face him and win.”
Or lose. No, don’t think of what could happen if we fail.
In less than twenty-four hours, I’d be facing off with a fifth-level demon. My training had led me to this moment, to tomorrow’s showdown. I hoped I was up to it. Grandma deserved more than to die in the second layer of hell. Dimitri’s family deserved to be avenged. And afterward, I deserved to sleep for about a year. It blew my mind to realize that if I actually survived this, I’d be free to go home, to resume my life, to teach my preschool class. I wondered if I could ever go back. I hoped I could.
I dug my hand into the pocket of my khakis and found the jeweled griffin hairpin Dimitri had given me. I smoothed it into my hair.
Dimitri caught my hands and held them in his, palms up. My breath caught in my throat. Black marks singed my hands and fingers where I’d touched the black souls.
He brought my hands to his lips and kissed each black stain. “I thought I’d lost you back there,” he said, lingering over my fingertips. “I would never have forgiven myself.”
I nodded, fascinated as his lips and teeth grazed my skin. He was my protector. Yow. Who was going to protect me from him?
“You are so damned dangerous,” he said, his mouth sinking into mine.
I responded with everything I had. Oh, yes. This was exactly how it should be. I wrapped my arms around him, threaded my fingers through his hair.
He eased his rough-and-tumble demon-butt-kicking body over me and I squirmed under his delicious weight. “Hot for teacher” didn’t even begin to cover it. I was no slut puppy, but serve up a sexy protector, a couple of near-death experiences and—oh my word was that him on my thigh? A girl can only resist so much.
I tore my mouth from his. “Back off now,” I said,fighting the urge to wriggle against the hard ridge jutting from underneath his jeans, “or I’m not responsible for my actions.”
“If you can still put a sentence together, I’m doing something wrong,” he said, yanking off his black T-shirt with one hand. “Maybe this’ll help.”
If there’s ever a time for a man to exceed all expectations, it’s in be
d.
I knew Dimitri was stacked, but—yee, hee lucky me—he had the chest of a Greek god. I ran my fingers over his olive skin. Mmm…his nipples were particularly dark, and rigid. I grazed them with the barest, teasing touch until they stood at attention. Hmm. And hello, abs. The man could have been an underwear model. I let my fingers curl into the black hair that ran down his lower stomach and disappeared under the waistband of his jeans.
He flicked his eyes up to mine, and his lips curled into a wicked smile. “Are you done fondling me?”
“Not by half.” I scraped one of his nipples between my teeth and was rewarded when he gasped and about doubled over. Told him not to mess with me. He ran his fingers through my hair as I teased each nipple in turn, rolling them in my mouth.
“My turn,” he gasped, gripping my head and plastering me with a hot, demanding kiss. He was all tongue and teeth. He stroked and demanded until my entire body threatened to implode. I squeezed my thighs together. If he could make me wet and aching without even touching down there, what would happen if…?
He drew a sharp breath as I shifted my body to bring him in line with the part of me that screamed for his touch. Eureka! He felt rock hard, amazing. It had been way too long.
His mouth grazed the thin material over my breast. God, who knew a white button-down could feel so good? I threw my head back, brimming with pure rapture.
“Watch me, Lizzie,” he said, his lips hovering over me.
I stared at him, unable to speak, as he slowly started to unfasten each white button on my blouse. It felt like huge, honking bottle rockets were going off at the juncture between my thighs.
“Oh please,” I croaked, wild with anticipation.
Dimitri chuckled. He drew back my bra with his thumbs. He caught his breath and his look of wonder brought hot tears to the backs of my eyes. He slowly lowered his mouth, his eyes fixed on mine as he took one screaming, begging nipple between his teeth. “Oh thank God!” I nearly exploded.
I wanted him. Now. Naked against me.
Which meant, oh geez, “Dimitri,” I panted. I clutched his head, scooted that awful inch away from him. “We have to stop.”
“Are you trying to kill me?” he gasped against my breasts.
“Of course not,” I said, staring at the ceiling, trying to get a grip. “I may have wanted to maim you a few times, but that’s in the past.”
As far as our future together? Well, I didn’t know. And there was the problem. As much as I liked to pretend I could have a night of blazing hot sex with no consequences, I wasn’t the type. Damn, I hated being responsible.
“We don’t need to stop,” he murmured, “Stopping is bad.” His lips found my other nipple. Another wave of pleasure seized me, sending spirals of heat through me until I was ready to surrender.
I knew he wasn’t just talking about tonight. Somewhere along the line, he’d wound himself into my heart—for better or worse. There was no turning back now, no getting him out of my system. I wanted Dimitri with me. I wanted this.
Think. Stop and think.
I curled my fingers into the bedsheets to keep them from finding his beautiful butt. I was usually more rational. I decided how far to go before he, oh geez, his hands moved to my thighs and I nearly passed out from anticipation. I didn’t plan this. But I could touch him a little, right? My hands wandered down his sides. It was like I hadn’t had chocolate cake in a year and I couldn’t stop with one bite. Only it had been more like two years and he tasted better than super-double-fudge icing and it would be so easy to slide my hand under the waistband of his Levi’s 501s.
He ground his mouth against mine and I gave myself up to the sensation. Ribbons of electricity wound through me.
“Are we stopping?” he whispered against my lips. “I need to know. Now.”
We both inhaled sharply as I slid my fingertips under the waistband of his jeans. His skin was super-heated, his breath jerky. It wasn’t fair. I had to decide once and for all. I touched the firm flesh of his lower stomach, felt the hair curl under my fingertips, knew if I moved a little more…
“No.” I slid my fingers beneath his silk boxers. “We’re not stopping tonight.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Hold still,” I told him, as I explored rough hair and mmm velvety skin, practically thrumming with anticipation.
“Impossible. To do. When you—ahhhh!”
I slipped my fingers over his enormous length. His cock leaped against his jeans, begging for release. I ran a finger over his tip, already slick and ready.
He moved against my hand. “You want to play?” He yanked my shirt the rest of the way open, sending buttons flying.
“You bonehead! That was my only—”
“I’ll buy you another one,” he said, yanking down his Levi’s.
I wriggled out of my khakis before Dimitri decided to shred them. They joined his jeans on the floor, and his boxers. Woo-hoo! He was hard, ready and giving me a standing ovation.
Nude, he was breathtaking…rock-solid legs, narrow hips and shoulders that could haul a truck. He wasted no time stradling me, his hands capturing my wrists above my head, his erection pressed firmly into my panties.
“Ahh, you and me, Lizzie,” he said, blazing a slow trail of kisses across my collarbone, “we belong together.”
“You sound like a Hallmark card,” I said, wriggling against him. I didn’t want to think. I just wanted to feel.
“We didn’t plan it,” he said, finding the sweet spot at the base of my neck, “but there’s no sense denying it.”
Oh, yes there is. I tried to tell him point-blank, but it came out more like, “Oh fargleee yeeees!” In my defense, he’d picked that moment to start rocking back and forth over my most sensitive parts.
I had no room for a handsome Greek protector in my life, once we killed Vald that is. I couldn’t see Dimitri fitting into my old life back in Atlanta. He wasn’t the type to argue politics with Cliff, or help run the Happy Hands Preschool picnic. This had to be a one-shot deal. Wham, bam, thank you mister “Zowww!” His tongue found the ultrasensitive nook behind my ear.
“You,” he nipped lower. “Belong with me.” Before I could answer, his fingers found the edge of my drenched panties. No fair.
“My people, we know these things,” he whispered.
His people? Sure, his people. Whatever. Oh God, if only he’d move his fingers an inch to the left. A half inch. A centimeter. Anything. He ran his fingers up and down the edge of my panties, waiting. I tipped my hips up to meet his hand. “Less think-y. More kiss-y.”
“You know you’re mine.”
“Whatever you say.” I couldn’t believe I was actually about to have sex with my studly protector. And his fingers, oh his fingers. He was so close! He hooked a thumb under the edge of my panties and kept it there, no matter what I did.
Yes, yes. I get it. I’m yours.
This was cruel and unusual punishment. “What am I going to have to do to get you to cut the chatter?”
He ripped off my panties and shimmied down my body.
He ran his hands up the insides of my thighs and spread my legs wide. “Beautiful,” he said before I felt his tongue dip inside me.
I nearly lurched off the bed. His tongue felt hot, branding me from the inside out. My hips—the traitors—thrust up on their own.
“Patience,” he chastised me, before delivering a single, agonizingly slow lick.
“Bastard.”
He chuckled and I felt his breath, warm against me, like its own caress. Holy moley, I didn’t have a chance. His tongue flicked in and out of me. If he kept this up, I’d never let him go. My insides melted. Glimmering heat wound from between my legs and up…everywhere. I whimpered. I couldn’t help it. He dipped a single finger inside of me and I wanted to scream. Fingers, tongue, mouth—he never stopped. My world revolved around the exquisite heat radiating through my body.
When I didn’t think I could take any more, he’d pull back enough, just enou
gh for me to settle down. Then he’d start again, licking, sucking, pushing, demanding. It was too much. I heard myself scream.
Finally, after I could sop up no more pleasure, he took mercy. He lifted his head, and cast me a wicked grin. “You know you belong with me.”
I swallowed, desperately searching for my non-screaming, panting, whimpering voice.
“I think I’ve known for a while,” he said absently, as if he wasn’t hovering over my quivering girlie bits. “But it hit me like a sucker punch when I thought I’d lost you to the black souls.”
It was hard to think with my whole body pulsing. But he seemed eager for an answer. Okay, so we were smitten. There was no way to know what would happen after tomorrow. I had to return to my normal life. But I knew what I wanted right then and there. “Come here,” I said, urging him into my arms. I wanted him, needed him inside me.
He snaked up my body, pure sin blazing in his eyes. He had to know what that did to me. He was all warm heat and hard muscle.
“I have to tell you something,” he said.
Oh no. “Now?”
“Yes. Now.” He frowned slightly, tipped my chin up and kissed me hard. His tongue found mine and pleasure rippled through every place he’d licked and then some. I could kiss him for weeks and still want more. I ground my naked body against his. Harder, faster, slower, I wanted him anywhere and everywhere I could get him. When we finally broke apart, we were both breathing hard.
“Once my people make love,” he said, his lips inches from mine. “We have a hard time—aggggguh!” My hips found him and pressed the tip of him inside me.
He was immense and I was drenched. My body gripped him, refused to let him go until he finished what he started.
“Ah,” he said, trying to assemble a coherent thought. “I—” His breath jerked in his throat. Clearly, breathing was not a priority at the moment. He held me in a vise grip, fighting to keep me, and himself, from moving another inch. “My people,” he gasped, holding me in place. “We have a difficult time letting go.”