Absolute Surrender

by Georgia Lyn Hunter

  Uneasy, she glanced up then down the street. The sensation of being watched persisted but she couldn’t see anything.

  Please, just this one night, so Kira could enjoy her birthday. So she could say goodbye to her friend in her way. She’d given Michael a letter for Kira after she left this realm and asked him not to say anything to Aethan about her decision either, insisting on his promise. Michael hadn’t been happy about that. As an archangel, once given, his promise bound him.

  “This is so exciting!” Kira hooked their arms, hazel eyes glowing gold in anticipation.

  Echo turned to her friend, an affectionate smile on her face. She didn’t have the heart to remind Kira what else liked this place, too, especially on the prowl for human souls. These were her last moments with her friend and she didn’t want to take away her enjoyment of the evening.

  Kira had changed her hair to a deep chestnut brown and had woven the length into multiple braids. A gleam of gold flickered through the strands at her excitement.

  “So, how does it feel to be twenty-four?”

  “Not a day older than sixteen.” Kira laughed. “Gran still thinks I’m a kid. Good thing she didn’t see the outfit.”

  “You mean you’re lucky she was out for the night?”

  “Yep.”

  Jessie walked up the street toward them, her spiked heels clicking on the concrete. When she reached them, she hooked her arm through Echo’s other one.

  “So spill. Who is he and where can I get one? The one who smashed up Neal yesterday.”

  “What are you talking about?” Echo asked.

  Kira sighed. “Let it go, Jess.”

  Jess snorted. “Oh sure. The most exciting thing to happen at the ’Cock and I’m supposed to let it go? Echo, you should’ve seen it. After you left the bar, that guy, the gorgeous one with blue hair, strode over to Neal, picked him up like an insect, and slammed him against the shelves. Bottles fell on top of him like an avalanche.

  “Man, what a sight! He said something to Neal, and by the look on Neal’s face, I was sure he’d piss himself,” she said, laughing. “Can’t know for sure since the broken liquor bottles wet him first.”

  The blood drained from Echo’s face. So that was what Kira meant and what Aethan wouldn’t talk about. The chagrined expression on Kira’s face confirmed it.

  “It was the most entertaining thing I’d ever seen,” Jess said. “Though Brian was pissed.” She sighed, a dreamy expression on her face. “So, who is he?”

  “Echo’s b—”

  “Let it go, please?” Echo said, squeezing Kira’s hand.

  Kira scowled then said, “He’s a friend.”

  “Girls, you ready to go?” Jon asked, as he jogged across the street to join them.

  Echo inhaled deeply, taking in the chilly air and stink of the alley as she followed the others to the entrance. While they waited to be carded and allowed admittance, she glanced around and smiled when she saw the bouncer. “Hey, Tagg.”

  Extremely tall and well-built, Tagg was a regular at the gym.

  “Echo. Good to see you.” His crooked smile revealed lean masculine dimples in his bronze face. “You’re staying awhile tonight?”

  It surprised her that he was aware she never stayed long. Couldn’t help that when she’d been following demoniis. “Yeah. It’s Kira’s birthday.”

  “Echo? The others are waiting,” Jon said, coming to join her.

  She nodded to Tagg and moved back into line. She shut her eyes when she felt Jon’s hand slide to her waist.

  “You okay?” he asked her.

  No, I’m not. She looked at him and smiled. “Yes, I’m fine.”

  ***

  Dagan leaned against a dingy wall, pulled out a thin cigar, and lit it. A spiral of smoke drifted into the night air. From the shadows of a building, he watched the human female who was the Realm Healer.

  Michael had asked him to babysit her. He would never understand how prophecies were always tied to a human. Weak damn species. And there she was, walking right into the pits of Hell. If he were Michael, he’d just send her human ass off to the Celestial Realm and be done with it, since she chose to walk away from the Empyrean. Aethan could do better. She wasn’t even of his race.

  The female and her group of friends approached the entrance of the club. She glanced around as if sensing him. Dagan paused. His gaze sharpened. Straightening, he sent his senses out, probing. Something didn’t feel right. One of them was different. He stared at the taller female with the braids, frowning.

  Before he could pinpoint what it was, the group reached the dark orifice that masqueraded as an entrance. He scanned again for that sensation. Nothing. Had to be the Healer’s psychic vibe he’d picked up on, he decided.

  The female stopped to speak to the bouncer there. He’d hoped she’d turn around and head back home. No such luck. The blond male came back to get her. His hand settled on her waist in a proprietary way.

  Dagan drew his cell from his leathers, rubbed his thumb over the display of his phone for a sec as he debated his choices. Then he did what needed to be done. He made a call.

  “You’ll want to head over to Anarchy—” His eyes narrowed as he watched the couple at the club entrance, and listened to the irritated male voice on the other end of the line.

  “Why?”

  “This shit’s your deal.”

  ***

  Inside the club, the air was thick with musky perfume and liquor. The heavy beat of rock music pounded in Echo’s head as multi-colored laser beams and strobe lights assaulted her eyes, guaranteeing a headache by the end of the night.

  Resting her elbows on the table, her hands around her Pepsi, Echo wished she was back outside in the cold air. She really didn’t want to be here in the frenzied excitement of the club, with unhappiness eating at her. She blinked rapidly and saw Jon pointing to the dance floor.

  Why couldn’t have fallen for someone like him? Quiet, considerate, and charming.

  His gaze filled with admiration when she stood and he took in the short, black leather skirt, side-laced halter-top and icepick-heeled, knee-high boots she wore.

  “You look amazing,” he said, leaning close so she could hear him above the heavy rock music.

  “Thanks.”

  He led her to the dance floor. And just her luck, a slow, dreamy song started. She inhaled a deep breath, about to tell him she’d changed her mind when she saw Jon’s hopeful blue eyes and his hesitant smile. Then she remembered his broken pinkie. What was one dance after the hurt she’d caused him?

  A few seconds into the dance and she couldn’t breathe. With Jon’s arms around her, the sea of bodies closed in on her, pushing her nearer to him. His spicy aftershave enfolded her. She had to clamp down on the urge not to push him away.

  She yearned for the scent of rainstorms. Tears clogged her throat—no! She had to be strong and thrust aside thoughts of Aethan.

  Squeezing her eyes shut, Echo wished she could lean on Jon for a moment without the complications. Then he took her hand from his shirtfront, opened her palm, and pressed a gentle kiss in the center.

  ***

  Aethan surveyed the bodies moving around in the VIP section of Anarchy. Their frenzied movement had little to do with the hardcore-rap music splitting his eardrums from below.

  He’d only been here a short while and already he felt like smashing his fist into something again. The writhing couples in the closed booth next to them pushed his edginess up to dangerous levels. Then the music switched to a ballad of some kind. He hated that shit. Made him yearn for what had slipped out of his grasp.

  Well, no longer.

  Blaéz lifted a finger and a waitress appeared. He ordered another shot of scotch then leaned back in his seat. He studied the inch of amber liquid that remained in his glass, distorted by the whipping strobe lights. “Found whatever Dagan wanted?”

  “No,” Aethan growled. “The Sumerian is as tight-lipped as a damn vault. Said nothing, just to check the club out
.”

  Whatever the hell it was, Blaéz and Týr could handle it. Though Týr would first have to detach himself from the female straddling him.

  The scent of sex and lust on this level battered at him, Aethan ignored the blatant invitation from the females trolling the place.

  “I’m outta here—” Then he staggered to a standstill. Dagan’s clipped message hit him square in the chest.

  She wouldn’t dare! He didn’t care if it was Kira’s birthday.

  He strode to the gallery over-looking the dance floor, scanned the place—and the brittle hold on his sanity fractured. His vision turned red. Fury crashed through him like a huge wave. His hands clenched on the railing. The lights in the place dimmed for a second.

  ‘Yo, man. Aethan, you okay?’

  Týr’s voice came to him from a distance. He didn’t answer. He walked out, death on his mind.

  CHAPTER 29

  Echo pulled away from Jon. She had to get out. “I’m sorry. I–I need to go.”

  “Echo, wait.” He tried to hold her back.

  She shook her head and bolted from the dance floor then stumbled to a halt. Aethan stood several feet from her. Everything in her froze, even though her foolish heart rushed around like mad in her chest. He looked dangerous and wild as the storms that so often visited New York.

  He had to have seen her with Jon, seen him kiss her hand. And she had a moment of terrifying clarity. It didn’t matter that she told Aethan it was over, she’d always be his mate, and that meant he could hurt Jon.

  She cast a desperate glance to her friend. Jon smiled wryly, raised a hand, and headed for their table.

  Then she met Aethan’s lethal gaze. His anger lashed at her. And she realized too late she shouldn’t have looked for Jon. She fled for the corridor.

  ***

  Aethan went after her, blood pounding in his veins. He caught her arm, hauled her down the dim corridor to the back exit, and killed the lights.

  She struggled to break free. “Don’t touch me.”

  He grabbed her hands, manacled them behind her. “So soon you forget. Two days—two fucking days and you’re with someone else?” he snarled.

  “I’m not doing this ag—”

  “What is he to you?”

  “It’s none of your business.”

  “None of my business? You dress like this, let another put his hands—his fucking mouth on you? And it’s none of my business?”

  “At least Jon won’t kill me when we become lovers, right?” she yelled, her eyes hot with anger.

  At her words, unadulterated rage cracked his control. His vision took on a white haze. “That will never happen. He touches you again, I will kill him.”

  He clamped his arm around her waist like a vice and dematerialized. Taking form in his room back at the castle, he took her mouth in a merciless kiss, slamming her back against the nearest wall.

  “No!” She pushed at his chest, broke free of his kiss. “I’m not going through this again.”

  Aethan grabbed her hands, pinned them above her head. The image of the human kissing her, stroking her face was a punch in his gut, knowing what could happen. But she was his. Every inch of her belonged to him.

  “You think I don’t want you?” His voice was harsh. “I died a little every minute since you left me. Every breath I take hurts because you’re not with me.”

  Tears filled her eyes. “Don’t. Please don’t say that. You know it can never be.”

  The broken note in her voice got to him. He remembered her crying in the bar toilet. Heard every anguished sob that tore through her and knew it wasn’t the asshole in the bar, or the one she came there with who hurt her, but him.

  “You have to let me go. I can’t live like this.”

  “That’s the one thing I cannot do.” The agonized whisper left him as his fury dissipated. He lowered his head to hers, eyes squeezed tight. “I can’t go on without you. I just can’t.”

  ***

  “Aethan?”

  He exhaled roughly and looked at her.

  Echo sensed the change in him, but she couldn’t read his expression. He’d reached some kind of decision about them, but with her luck, it could only go one way.

  The embers sparked in the fireplace and flared to life. The soft crackle of wood broke the silence in the room.

  “Whatever you want, me’morae.” A whisper.

  Her breath caught in her throat. He agreed?

  She wanted to smile as relief sung its way into her heart. But she wasn’t foolish enough to let it distract her.

  Echo watched him carefully, saw the fear in his gray eyes, and understood he hated being so helpless. Hated the thought of what could happen to her. But if they were to have a chance at a life together, he needed to trust her. She rested her hands on his chest and hesitated.

  ‘You can handle us, little one, remember that.’

  It struck her then. The man in the navy robe had said those words to her after he had healed her. Maybe this is what he meant. Christ, she hoped so.

  “Echo—what is it?”

  She blinked and shook her head. “Would you let me do this?”

  A suspicious look entered his stormy gaze. She wanted to smile. God, she loved him. “Promise me you won’t poof out of here, disappear when you think you’re losing control.”

  His turbulent stare didn’t waver, nor did he respond.

  She didn’t give up and pushed on. “If I think I’m not able to handle anything, I’ll stop, okay? Think of it as...” A wicked smile curved her lips. “As domination and submission. Only I’ll be the Dom and have a safe word, too.”

  A scowl appeared on his handsome face, then he gave a stilted nod.

  “Oh no, say the words, Aethan.”

  He squeezed his eyes shut, and a muscle worked his jaw. “Yes.”

  Her head tilted to him, she slid her hands up the hard muscles of his chest and pushed his coat off his broad shoulders. The leather fell to the floor in a rustle. He stood there like a statue. No matter. By the time she was done with him...well, she planned to have him begging for mercy.

  Echo trailed her hands up his chest, unfastened a button on his black shirt to reveal tawny-gold skin. She worked the rest of the buttons free then glanced up. Not a flicker of emotion showed on his stone-like features.

  “What do you think of blue as a safe word?” Her fingers tracing over his pecs caused those flat male nipples to harden. Unable to resist them, she flicked her tongue over one little nub, then she did the same to the other, and saw the goose bumps on his body.

  “You taste so good.” She closed her teeth over one and tugged with just enough of a sting. His entire body shuddered. Well now, so her statue had life. She didn’t let him see her smile as she licked the pain away.

  “What was I saying? Yep, I think blue would do as a safe word.” She leaned in close to whisper. “Because I like the color of your hair.”

  She tugged his shirt off, tossing it on top of his coat, and went down on her knees in front of him. He was already aroused and rigid. The prominent bulge in the front of his leathers beckoned her. She wanted badly to touch him, to feel the power of his erection as her hands encircled his hardness.

  Echo concentrated on his boots instead of the temptation of his sex. She tugged and got them off easier then she expected. But then he only moved when he wanted to

  Running a finger over the front edges of his waistband, she glanced up at him. His eyes burned with a hunger that made her blood heat up like she’d been dipped in lava. Her heart thudded, her fingers brushing his hard stomach, as she unbuttoned, then unzipped, his leathers. It took all her strength and determination not to touch him the moment his erection sprang free. She tugged his trousers down his legs. He shifted on his feet and let her take them off.

  Echo moved and her face brushed against his hardness. He jerked at the contact. Thick, long, and rigid, his erection jutted out. She didn’t think, just caressed her cheek against his warm, silken flesh. Her
fingers circled his thickness. A bead of moisture formed at the tip of his cock. She leaned in and licked it off. He stiffened and a guttural groan escaped him.

  Then she ran her tongue from base to the top of the blunt head. The heady taste of him filled her senses as she took him into her mouth. Up, down, her mouth rode him, her hands working the base. A hand brushed over her hair while he braced his other fist on the wall. She’d never done this, but with went with her instincts. Echo felt his pleasure like her own, his hand in her hair, spurring her on. Her lips tightened around him. She stroked lower down his cock to caress his balls.

  With a harsh groan, he hauled her up, his eyes a wild gray. Echo saw the rigid jaw and knew what he was doing. He would let her use him while he remained in control.

  Too bad for him.

  She wanted it all. And she would have it.

  Only his absolute surrender would do.

  She pulled back and eyed him in all his naked glory. And had to bite down the urge not to go back on her knees and take another taste of him. His erection glistened from her mouth’s exploration. Finally, she had him exactly how she imagined him so many times in her dreams. Naked, maybe not exactly defenseless, but all hers.

  Her hands trailing over his hard abs, she moved behind him. The man had the most gorgeous butt ever. She traced the ropey muscles of his back with light fingers then skimmed her lips over the old scars, kissing each new one she discovered. The goosebumps multiplied.

  “You’re cold.” Taking his hand, she led him to the large rug in front of the fireplace and pushed him down flat on his back.

  His gaze remained wary, pinned on her face.

  “I’m not going to do anything you won’t like,” she said, smiling. “Okay fine, we’ll give you a safe word, too, if it will make you feel better. How about ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’?”

  Aethan’s eyes narrowed at her teasing.