“Valerie Stevenson was up here.”
Shit. “Yeah, we had coffee.”
“I know. I spoke to her in the hall downstairs.”
Leon moved his hands in a what about it? gesture. “Is something wrong with that?”
Demitri wouldn’t meet his gaze. “She and I used to be lovers. A long time ago.” He sounded sad.
“I promise you we just had coffee. She told me . . .” Leon hesitated, wondering if Val had been bullshitting him, if she would have a good laugh at Leon’s expense. “She said she was a celibate priestess.”
Demitri nodded. “That is true. She is celibate.” He put an emphasis on the word celibate.
“Don’t get riled. As you saw, she left. A lady says no, I don’t push her.”
Anger flickered through Demitri’s eyes, terrible, vast anger that wasn’t necessarily directed at Leon. “Keep it that way.” He turned on his heel, stalked into his bedroom, and slammed the door so hard it rattled.
Leon blew out his breath. He stood there a minute, staring at the blank closed door, then he turned to his own bedroom. The unused towel lay across the bed, mocking him for his missed release. He didn’t need it now. His hard-on had shriveled in the face of Demitri’s angry stare.
The encounter had been interesting, not just because Demitri had revealed his past involvement with Valerie. When rage had flashed across the tall man’s face, his coffee-colored eyes had flickered for an instant to gold yellow, his pupils becoming slits. It might have been a trick of the light, but Leon knew better. Demitri, the uptight owner of a luxury hotel, sometimes spent time in the shape of a wild cat.
I need to remain in control.
Demitri lay awake, sweating and staring at the ceiling. Leon Dupree had been masturbating, his claim he’d been working out feeble at best. Demitri had smelled the sex on him, the frustration, the sweat.
That made Demitri believe more than anything that Valerie had walked out without touching the man. If they’d had sex, Leon would have been sated and heavy-eyed, not keyed up and needing to release.
Demitri imagined Leon stripping off and pulling his swollen cock through his fist, stroking and pumping to ease the pain. Demitri had done that often enough when memories of Val overwhelmed him.
He eased his hand to his own cock, feeling it throbbing and hot. Val had loved Demitri’s cock. She’d known how to lick it and suck it until Demitri had been mad with passion. He’d taken on Val all those centuries ago to help Aphrodite, thinking he did a good deed, but he’d fallen for Val very fast. Even now he couldn’t look at her without his body tightening.
Let her go. It was over, and now he needed to save her life.
The creak of Leon’s door across the hall made him open his eyes. He heard soft footsteps then another creak, this one of a mattress.
Demitri slid silently out of bed. The footsteps hadn’t been Leon’s, and Demitri’s cat senses knew a third party had entered their suite.
Without bothering to dress, Demitri stepped naked into the tiny hall between the rooms and eased Leon’s door open a crack.
LEON awoke to someone getting into bed with him. Instinct made him rise up and pin the intruder to the mattress, his hands locking around a slender neck.
He jerked away when his night vision showed him Valerie’s pointed face, dark eyes, and riot of red black curls. She lay beneath him, smiling her sweet and sultry smile, her eyes glinting in the dark.
“Hello, lover,” she purred.
3
VALERIE?” Leon sat back on his heels. “What the hell?” Valerie arched up to him. “You can be rough, lover. I don’t mind.”
She was a lush armful, soft and sweet. She wore a fine-linked gold chain around her waist, all the better to loop his fingers through.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“I’m sorry I said no earlier.” Valerie ran her fingers hands down his bare torso, her nails lightly raking his flesh. “I had to make sure of you.”
“Demitri’s asleep in the next room.”
“Is he?” She gave him a wicked smile. “Do you want to wake him up so he can watch?”
Holy shit. “Are you drunk?”
“Not drunk, lover.” Valerie lifted her naked body to his. “I need you, Leon. It’s been so long, a lifetime of loneliness, and now you want me.”
“Just a minute. You and Demitri fed me the same shit about you being a celibate. What is that about?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything. You told me all about you, and I’ll tell you all about me.” Val sucked his lower lip between her teeth. “But first we’re going to fuck like there’s no tomorrow.”
Leon hesitated, but his body throbbed. Why argue? A beautiful woman had just jumped into his bed and started rubbing herself all over him. Why not take what she offered? This was what he’d wanted to happen, wasn’t it?
He let her drag him down and kiss him, her tongue plunging deep into his mouth.
“All right, then,” he whispered.
SHE gave him the best sex of his life. Deep, grunting, satisfying sex. They tried many positions, Val proving she could be creative. The covers tumbled to the floor, the bed shook, and the room got hot.
She straddled him, rocking on him while Leon held her firm breasts in his hands. He didn’t protest when she backed out and took his very erect cock in her mouth and played until he came. He was hard again almost right away, and he entered her from behind, her butt in the air while she screamed into the bed.
Sex and more sex. She didn’t get tired. She was on top of him again, their bodies pressed together, face-to-face, when Leon finally fell asleep.
He woke alone to the sun trying to penetrate the heavy window shades. He lay spread-eagled on top of the empty bed, stark naked, pin dots of sunshine dancing across his skin.
He listened hopefully for a running shower, looked around for Valerie’s clothes. Nothing. She was gone, and he was alone. “Damn.”
He got out of bed and into the shower, where he leaned against the wall, shaking, while hot water blasted over him. It had been years since he’d had a sex hangover, but he was exhausted and drained. Valerie had been one hell of a partner, though he’d probably never have the pleasure of her again.
His sense of profound regret surprised him. He hadn’t come out here looking for love, he’d come to help his brother, maybe to find a more permanent job so he could send money back to his mother. Anyone as exotic as Valerie wouldn’t want to marry a Cajun boy anyway. She was used to staying in boutique hotels, buying expensive carpets, dating hotel owners, and all he had was a houseboat on a bayou. Leon was a diversion from boredom for her, that was all.
Leon snapped the shower off, dried himself, dressed, and strode out into the suite’s sitting room.
Demitri was eating breakfast at a table spread with a white cloth. An empty plate and silverware waited in front of the chair across from him, and dishes of food and a basket of bread rested in the middle of the table. Demitri read a newspaper, and he turned a page without looking up.
“I ordered breakfast for both of us,” he said. “Do you mind?”
Leon had planned to head down to the dining room, hoping to see Valerie there. But maybe it was better if he didn’t. If Leon talked to Val again, he might do something stupid, like ask her to come to Luxor with him. Besides, Demitri was his host and had gone to the trouble of ordering the breakfast. Not only that, Leon had just had sex with the man’s ex-girlfriend.
“Thank you.” Leon sat down and reached for a roll. There wasn’t any butter, but there was hummus, which Leon had discovered he liked.
“Did you sleep well?” Demitri’s voice rumbled from behind the paper.
Leon chewed and swallowed. “Pretty much.”
Demitri folded the paper and threw it down on the table. His face was dark with anger. “I know you had sex with Valerie.”
Not much use in denying it. “Yes.” He licked hummus off his fingers. “You told me you two broke up a lon
g time ago.”
Demitri scowled. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”
“I have a pretty good idea.” Leon spooned more of the tasty paste onto his bread. “If you want to throw me out of your hotel, you can. But she snuck into my room and hopped into bed with me. I didn’t seduce her. She pretty much seduced me.”
“I know. I saw you.”
Leon froze. “What, are you saying you watched?”
“For a time, yes.”
“Well, shit, why didn’t you just take pictures? Maybe a video?”
“I wouldn’t record without your consent.”
A weird answer, and the man wasn’t even embarrassed. “Thank you for small favors.”
“Val is still very beautiful.” Demitri closed a tight hand around his coffee cup. “Though the chain around her waist was new.”
“I don’t like discussing ladies I’ve been with, all right? Call me an old-fashioned boy.”
“You should not have been with her at all; that is the point,” Demitri said angrily. “You should have resisted her.”
“What for? She wanted me, I wanted her, and you said yourself y’all were quits a long time ago.”
“Because of her vows.”
“That priestess of Venus shit? She fed me that because she didn’t want to do it right then. She was letting me down easy. I figured she changed her mind and came back.”
Demitri shoved back his chair and stood up. “No, you fool. She truly is a priestess of Aphrodite, and she could be punished for sleeping with you. Severely punished.”
The man quivered in rage, his face dark, his eyes flicking to tiger yellow. “How severely?”
“She could be killed.”
“Killed?” Leon got to his feet. “Christ on a crutch, why?”
“She was forced into service to Aphrodite for her past misdeeds, allowed to live if she took the vows and did what she was told. I was supposed to keep an eye on her while she was here, make sure she didn’t do what she did with you.”
“Then why the hell didn’t you come in and stop her?”
“Because . . .” Demitri trailed off, his expression unreadable. “I was commanded not to. I was to observe, not interfere, and report what temptations she could not resist.”
“You’d report her? Even if it meant she died?”
Demitri looked away. “I’m bound to obey.”
“Fuck that. I’m not letting you get her killed. I can’t believe you’d hate her that much for breaking up with you.”
“I don’t.” He looked back at Leon, his eyes weary. “I loved Val with all my heart.”
“Then help me find her and warn her.” He started for the door.
“You must stay away from her. Let me deal with Valenarian.”
Leon turned. “What did you just call her?”
“Val. Valerie.”
“No, you called her something else.”
“She used to be Valenarian. She took the name Valerie when she turned to her new life.”
“Whatever she’s called, we need to find her.”
He continued to the door, but faster than Leon thought the bigger man could move, Demitri got in front of him and blocked the exit. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“Get out of my way,” Leon said.
“No.”
Leon’s anger flared. He hadn’t been angry in a long time—he’d suppressed almost all emotion to keep from going crazy. His anger blazed out now and felt good. “Get out of my way,” he said, very quietly.
Demitri’s body grew and brightened, stretching to the ceiling of the high room. Leon squeezed his eyes shut as the light grew, the room heating like the desert floor.
He opened his eyes as Demitri threw back his head and roared. The man’s face elongated into a big cat’s, tiger stripes flushing his body. His muscular arms changed to the squat shape of a tiger’s, his shoulders and haunches becoming powerful. His body rippled with fur, and a tail sprang from his buttocks with a sudden spurt.
Demitri landed on all fours, and Leon faced a huge, yellow-eyed, hot-breathed tiger.
Demitri was bigger than a normal tiger. He must be something more than a shifter, but Leon didn’t yet understand what. Demitri’s lips curled back from huge white fangs.
“All right, kitty, kitty,” Leon said. “If that’s how you want to play.”
Leon kicked off his shoes and started pulling off his clothes. He’d learned how to get rid of clothes fast when he was a kid, running up and down the bayous at night with his brothers.
Once he was naked, Leon swiftly brushed the tiger’s shoulder. By the time Demitri swung his claws at Leon, Leon had leapt out of range.
Leon concentrated, seeing, feeling, hearing, smelling the tiger. He sucked its essence into himself, learning it, making it part of himself.
His eyes changed first, the world becoming convex and sharply defined. Then his face and his teeth, fangs curving outward, long and powerful. Then, with a long shudder, his body became a tiger’s. He landed on his clawed feet and swished his tail, every bit as large as Demitri.
Yeah, boy, anything you can be, I can be, too.
Now the dominance contest would begin. Demitri was used to being alpha—that fact screamed itself to Leon in his stance, his body language, the way his eyes never moved from Leon’s. Demitri snarled, nose wrinkling as he took in Leon’s scent. Leon snarled back at him, not about to look away.
Leon didn’t consider himself the alpha, the leader, but he wasn’t a follower either, not one of the pack. Leon was a shifter, not a were-anything, and he didn’t take on the politics of packs and their leaders. Tigers were mostly loners, but even among them there were the strong and there were tigers that couldn’t make it. When two tigers entered one territory, only one tiger left.
Demitri struck first. His ears went back, and his front paw came out with a lightning-fast strike. Leon danced out of the way, deflecting the blow with a strike of his own. Demitri hit out again, his teeth bared, the powerful paw coming down again.
Leon knew Demitri wanted him to fall on his back, to expose his soft underbelly and throat. The gesture would mean that Leon conceded to Demitri’s dominance, leaving it up to Demitri to let Leon rise or rip out his throat.
Not going down, Leon thought with glee. This was fun. He rose on his hind legs and lunged. He got Demitri in a lock, Demitri trying desperately to get his teeth on Leon’s neck.
The two cats fell to the floor in a crash of limbs, rolling over each other. Both tried to get hind claws up to slash bellies; each tried to twist around to get hold of the other’s neck.
Leon sensed that Demitri wasn’t trying to kill him. Demitri’s strikes were savage, but the cat was holding back. Demitri wanted Leon to obey.
Leon had never been good at obedience—just ask his commanding officer. He gave Demitri as good as he got, letting the man know he could kill if he wanted, but like Demitri, he was choosing not to.
Adrenaline surged, and Leon growled with the joy of it. He hadn’t done anything this fun in a long time. Demitri’s eyes were flat with anger—he wanted to control, to tame, and Leon wasn’t about to let him.
“Oh, goddess,” came a female voice at the door. “Two of you?”
Leon rolled away from Demitri and back to his feet. The tigers faced each other, panting, while Val watched in shock from the doorway.
“Demitri?” she exclaimed. “Where did you get a twin?”
Demitri snarled one more time, then morphed back into his human form. Leon thought about Leon, his man shape, his true self, and a little more slowly flowed into it.
Valerie was staring at them, her hair flowing in a straight wave to her waist. “Leon? You’re a tiger, too?”
“I’m a shifter,” Leon said when he found his voice again. “I can take the shape of different animals.”
Valerie’s gaze roved Leon’s naked body then Demitri’s, her tongue coming out to brush her lower lip. Leon never noticed his nudity after he’d shifted, his animal
brain not understanding the embarrassment of being unclothed. But he felt the heat of Valerie’s gaze as she roved it appreciatively down his body. As Leon watched, the curls of her hair wound slightly tighter.
“Val,” Demitri said in a warning tone.
Val gave him a deprecating glance. “I’m celibate, Demitri, not blind.”
Leon reached for his shirt. “This has been fun, but I need to talk to Val.”
“About what?” Valerie asked.
“Last night.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Demitri said, tight-lipped. The man didn’t bother to dress. He was nearly seven feet tall and built like a wrestler, with sun-bronzed skin flowing over big muscles. Black hair dusted his chest, and a thatch of black curled between his legs. The hair brushing his legs and arms was also dark, but streaked with gold—the tiger in him.
Leon buttoned his shirt and reached for his jeans. “There’s everything to talk about.”
Demitri had his hands on his hips, scowling at Valerie. “Tell me your version.”
“My version of what?”
“Your version of coming up here and seducing Leon. Damnation, Val, you know what I’ll have to do.” He looked anguished.
Val frowned back at him, lovely today in a light blue tunic-looking thing. Leon wasn’t a man who much noticed what a woman wore, but he liked that Valerie favored flowing, light-colored clothes that brought out the blue in her eyes. Her eyes looked very blue this morning; last night in the dark they’d been almost black.
“What are you talking about? I told you, Leon and I had coffee, then I went to bed.”
“And then you had sex.”
Val looked perplexed. “No, we didn’t.”
“Don’t play innocent, Val. I saw you.”
“How could you have? I was in my room asleep all night.” Val looked at Leon in confusion. “Are you playing some kind of trick? Did you tell him that because you were angry I wouldn’t stay?”
“You climbed into my bed, Val,” Leon said, keeping his voice gentle. “We had sex.” Heat flared through his veins. “Great sex.”
Mortal Seductions Page 4