Leon dipped his hand between her buttocks, fleetingly touching Val’s anal star. She licked her lips. She hadn’t been fucked there since she’d been Valenarian. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to take Demitri’s full cock, or Leon’s? Had Leon made love like that before?
Let me out, Valenarian pleaded longingly. I haven’t had this in so very long.
No. You have to stay hidden, or we’ll both die.
Bitch. You have no idea how to appreciate what you have. I want this.
No, Val thought in a panic. No, not now.
“Harder, lover,” Valenarian said, looking out through Val’s eyes. “Pin me down, Demitri. Then make Leon fuck my ass.”
Leon froze in place, but Demitri closed his hand around Val’s neck. “Not you. Let Valerie come back.”
“Screw you. She’s a bore. I want you both inside me. Double penetration.”
Demitri’s grip tightened. “Bring her back, or you get nothing.”
“What will you do if I don’t?” Valenarian looked up at Demitri, her smile wide. “Have Leon spank me again? Or strap me in the harness and whip me? Not much of a threat if I love it, is it?”
“I can do a hell of a lot more to you than that, and you know it.”
“Oh, the dangerous Demitri emerges. You know you want me this way, lover. You don’t want her. You never did. You love Valenarian, and you want to fuck me until we both can’t walk. Then you’ll make Leon do both of us.”
“I want Valerie back.” Demitri’s voice was low but hard. “Now.”
Valenarian wasn’t a complete fool. Demitri was dangerous when he was pushed, and she’d pushed him. She let out a heavy sigh of disappointment, then Valerie gasped as Valenarian vanished.
“Demitri,” she said worriedly.
Demitri’s touch relaxed. “It’s all right. You see? You’re controlling her.”
“No, she left because she decided to. It was her choice, not mine.”
“You will get used to how it feels to send her away, and then you’ll be able to do it at will.” His fingers became soothing, massaging, and Leon started again as well. “I’ll teach you, love.”
“I know it’s true,” Val said. “You do love her, not me.”
Demitri said nothing, and Val’s heart ached.
“I don’t,” Leon broke in. “I like you just as you are, Valerie. Sweet and nice, but oh so sexy.”
Val tried a smile. “I bet you say that to all the women with demons inside them.”
Leon chuckled softly. “You betcha, babe.”
Demitri patted her ass. “You wanted penetration. Leon’s going to provide it.”
Val’s heart beat faster. She automatically drew her knees under her, raising her hips, her quim parting.
“Not like that.” Demitri gave her a little spank. “Leon on that chair; Val, you on him.”
Leon pulled the straight-backed chair from the desk as Demitri indicated. It was carved teak, a lovely antique. Leon sat down on it and opened his arms, his cock standing in a stiff point. The leather straps of the harness enhanced his already gorgeous body.
Val put her hands on Leon’s shoulders and swung her leg over his lap. She lowered to him, slowly impaling herself on him. Leon closed his eyes.
He was huge and she was wet, and he slid easily inside her. Valerie couldn’t remember her encounter with Leon in his hotel room in Cairo, and she was sorry for that. He must screw like a god.
I remember, Valenarian whispered. Let me show you.
“No,” Val said out loud.
Leon opened his eyes, watching her, his hips rocking as he started to make love.
He’s mortal, and he’s mine, Valenarian said. I had him first.
“No!” Val clenched every muscle in her body, trying to drive out the demon’s voice.
Demitri came up behind Leon and put his hands on Leon’s shoulders. He leaned down and pressed his cheek against Leon’s. “Hold her in, Val.”
“I can’t. She’s too strong.”
“You can. Do it.”
Val ground her teeth, riding Leon and wrestling Valenarian at the same time. Demitri was cruel; this was too hard.
Give in, sweetheart. I’m way too strong. Let me punish Demitri as he deserves.
He’s trying to help me, she thought desperately.
Bullshit. He’s trying to destroy us. He wants to make us his tame animals, to add to the string of demigods and women he’s seduced over the centuries. Look how quickly he’s tamed Leon.
He hasn’t tamed Leon at all, Val protested.
Leon never lusted after another man in his life, until now. Why is that, do you suppose? Because Demitri wanted him, and Demitri gets whoever he wants.
No.
You don’t suppose Demitri was celibate all those years you didn’t see him, do you? He had so many lovers. So many, while he forgot all about us.
Val’s ire cut through her fear. How the hell would you know? You were locked in the temple with me.
Poor innocent. He had lovers before he met us, and he had them after we were gone. He’s not a man to go to bed alone.
“Demitri,” Val gasped. “Make her stop.”
“You have to do that,” Demitri answered. “You have the strength. It’s your choice.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Yes, I do.” Demitri’s voice was hard.
Valenarian shoved the struggling Valerie aside. She grabbed the leash around Leon’s neck and pulled it tight. “No, you don’t understand, lover. I’m stronger than she’ll ever be.”
Leon coughed and grabbed Val’s wrist. The movement drove his cock wonderfully inside her, but Val eased her hold. “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Unless you want me to.”
“Fuck you.”
Valenarian closed her eyes and rocked her head back. “You are. Deep.”
“Let Valerie come back,” Demitri said sternly.
Valenarian laughed. She bounced on Leon’s lap, his cock so high inside her she wanted to scream. “Leon loves me. Go away, Demitri.”
Leon sank his fingers into her buttocks, far gone in sex. Demitri watched them both with sin-dark eyes. Valenarian loved him, as much as she fought him. She loved him watching her with Leon, loved his scent and warmth so close. She laced her hand through Demitri’s hair, pulled him down to her, and kissed him.
He kissed her back, as excited as she was. He wanted to control, and Valenarian didn’t want to let him. It was a delicious fight, with Leon between them as a buffer. Judging by the way Leon was fucking her with all his might, he obviously didn’t mind.
Demitri went on kissing her, his tongue plowing through her mouth. She felt Leon’s lips on her cheek, fleeting. She wrenched her mouth from Demitri and started to kiss Leon.
Leon came. He threw his head back, an animal-like growl escaping from his mouth. Demitri kissed him, then Val leaned forward to kiss Leon’s face, her breasts crushed against his chest.
Leon started to laugh as Demitri and Val rained kisses on him. “Christ, let me breathe.”
Val drew back reluctantly, and Demitri rose, his eyes tiger-yellow, his pupils vertical slits. Leon continued to laugh. “Damn. I’m sorry I didn’t meet you two a long time ago.”
Valenarian sat back, Leon still inside her. She felt the insipid Valerie trying to push her out. The poor ninny never got to have any fun, but Valenarian didn’t care.
“You stole my life, you bitch,” she said out loud. “And now you’re trying to steal my lovers.”
“Not so,” Demitri said. “If you become one, like Aphrodite wants you to, you can have it all.”
Valenarian clenched her fists. “Aphrodite’s lying to you. I get nothing. My reward for doing what Aphrodite wants is eternal servitude. To her, back in her temple. She said so. It’s that or death.”
Both men stared at her, Leon breathing hard from his climax. “That’s not what she told us,” Leon said.
“Don’t you get it?” Val leaned into Leon’s warmth, not wanting
to let him go. “She lied. She’s using you. She gets what she wants, not what will make us happy.”
Leon stroked her hair. “You don’t need to worry about that, baby. I’ll take care of you.”
“No,” Val said, tears leaking from her eyes. “You’ll die.”
“She’s right,” Demitri said, his voice soft. “If we go against the wishes of the gods, we die.”
“So you’re going to give up?” Leon asked him incredulously.
“I didn’t say that. What I want is Val alive and safe. What happens to me doesn’t matter.”
“What about Leon?” Val asked. Valenarian felt tired and broken, despite the climax she’d just had. She tried to hold on, but she was so tired. Tears slid down her face. “Does Leon get to die, too?”
“No. I’ll make sure Leon is safe.” Demitri kissed Leon’s cheek, his eyes sad. “Whatever it takes.”
REMY steered the Jeep around the next ridge, the headlights cutting swaths through the darkness. Normally he’d be nervous to be this far away from civilization at night, but the thought of the undiscovered tomb drove him on.
Felicia clung to the seat next to him as they rocked along the rutted road. She clutched the map in one hand and held a big flashlight in the other.
“You sure it was this far?” she asked. “A long way to come hiking with your brother. You two must walk fast.”
“We used to run all over the bayous when we were kids. All day and all night.”
“That’s a little different from walking miles in the desert with no water.”
“Maybe.”
Remy stared around him, trying to get his bearings. The Jeep road took him at an angle from where he wanted to go, heading too far south. The problem was, things looked different to his human eyes than they had to his lion’s eyes.
Why’d we pick lions? he asked himself irritably. Lions weren’t night hunters, and their eyes didn’t register things like a tiger’s or leopard’s would. But they’d wanted the strength and speed, and the moon had been so bright. It had been a lion kind of night.
Remy pulled off the road, took the map from Felicia, and tried to figure it out. “We need to go out there.” He pointed.
“There’s no road.”
“No kidding. It will have to be on foot.”
“Remy.” Felicia’s face under the moonlight looked soft, almost delicate. “If we get lost out here, we’ll die of exposure. We didn’t bring near enough water to do any hiking. Why don’t we provision and come back out tomorrow?”
“It will be too hot during the day, and I might not be able to find it again.”
“But you will in the middle of the night?”
Remy set the map back in Felicia’s lap and gripped the steering wheel. “You can go back to the dig house if you want. Take the Jeep and leave me. If I’m not back by morning, you know where to start looking.”
“Are you crazy?” Felicia fixed her flashlight on his face. “Leave you out in the middle of the desert by yourself? Did you have heat stroke today or something?”
Remy climbed out of the Jeep and scanned the terrain. He needed to go around the ridge to the flat land below. Beyond that, he was sure, lay the outcropping. As a lion, though, he’d not so much seen his way as smelled and heard and felt it. His human form could be limiting sometimes.
“I’ll be all right,” he said. “I know how to survive in the desert. I can’t get to this place with the Jeep. It has to be on foot.”
“Then I’m coming with you.” Felicia climbed down and started rummaging for the canteens of water. “We can mark our trail from the Jeep so we can find our way back.” She took a piece of bright orange tape from a bag of supplies and tied it around a rock next to the Jeep.
Remy sighed. “All right, you’re right. We’ll both go back, and I’ll come out tomorrow.” When he could slip away alone. He wished now he’d left Felicia behind, but he hadn’t realized how difficult the site would be to find.
“Forget it.” Felicia pulled out another bag of supplies and handed it to him. “We’re this far, you think you know where it is, and we’ll be careful. I want to find it, too.”
Remy slung the pack over his shoulder. “I usually admire your persistence, but I’m not so sure tonight.”
“First you’re excited to bring me out here, and now you don’t want me to go with you. You say you’ll explore alone tonight, then you say you’ll come back tomorrow. Whatever it was you found, I think it scrambled your brains.”
“Yeah, I think it did, too.”
Felicia held up the map. “Well, which way?”
Remy studied it, looked at the horizon, and pointed north and west. “This way.” He started down the small slope from the Jeep, heading for the ridgeline. Felicia followed, stopping after ten feet to leave another orange strip on another rock.
DEMITRI carried Val into the bedroom and laid her on the bed, covering her with a sheet. Valenarian had retreated, and it was just Valerie, half-asleep with tears on her face.
Demitri kissed a tear away, smoothing back her red-streaked hair. Guilt churned inside him, because he knew Val was right. He loved Valenarian, always had. The woman Aphrodite had made her become hadn’t been his girl, his love, and he’d stayed far away from her.
“She all right?” Leon asked when Demitri came out. The man was on his feet, unbuckling the harness.
“She’s fine. Did I say you could take that off?”
Leon’s hands stopped. “I figured we were done.”
Demitri came to him and wrapped the leash around his fist. “We’re not done by a long shot. I remember you telling me over the phone something you wanted to do.”
Excitement skimmed through Leon. “You mean like I want to fuck your sweet ass?”
“Like that, yes.”
“Are you always so proper?” Leon said. They stood nose to nose, Leon’s green eyes on level with Demitri’s dark ones. “Do you act like you have a stick up your ass because there’s a real one there?”
Demitri unfastened his pants and let them fall. “Want to check?”
Leon’s eyes flickered. He stood back and let Demitri pull off his underwear and socks, then Demitri leaned over the end of the sofa, his butt in the air. “What do you think?” Demitri asked him. “Anything there?”
He jerked when he felt Leon’s fingertips softly brush over his ass.
“Doesn’t look like it,” Leon said.
“Look closer. The oil is on the table.”
Leon picked up the lubricating oil Demitri had used on Val and spread some on his finger. “Want me to get a condom?” he asked.
“I’m a demigod. You can’t give me a disease. And I can’t give you anything—if I don’t want to.”
“Man, you’re reassuring.”
Leon set down the oil and lightly touched Demitri again.
“Slide your finger in,” Demitri said softly. “Play with me a little. Get me ready for you.”
It took Leon a while to become comfortable touching Demitri’s ass, but finally Demitri felt the pressure of his finger. His large, hard finger. It felt good.
“Are you sure you’ve never done this before?” Demitri rasped.
“Not with a man.”
“You don’t have to be as gentle with me. Be tender with Val, but with me, you can do what you want. You can’t hurt me.”
Demitri felt the tension in Leon’s whole body. His finger moved inside, making everything slick and open. A second finger joined the first.
“That’s it.” Demitri’s voice went low, excitement warming him. “Keep doing that.”
Leon stood closer, his thighs touching Demitri’s. The heat of Leon’s body loosened Demitri even more.
“I was right,” Leon said. “You are tight-assed.”
“But getting better by the second.”
“Yeah, I can feel that.”
When Leon eased out his fingers out to add more lube, Demitri arranged the sofa cushions so he could lean on them.
“
I can take you now. Do it.”
“You sure?” Leon asked.
“Of course, I’m sure. Your cock is stiff, and I’m lubed and ready. Fuck me.”
Leon dragged in a breath. “Damn, I hope no one ever finds out I did this.”
“Who am I going to tell besides Val?”
“You know a lot of people.”
Demitri looked over his shoulder. Leon was ready, his eyes dark, his cock fully extended. “Your secret is safe with me, Leon. I promise you. Now do it. Please. I want you.”
Leon nodded, his eyes shifting from human to cat and back again. He braced his hands on Demitri’s hips, positioned his cock on Demitri’s needy opening, and slid inside.
REMY stopped again, scanning the outcroppings around him while Felicia tied yet another strip of orange tape to another rock. He blew out his breath. He didn’t recognize any of this. They had enough water to go maybe a few more miles before they’d have to turn back.
“This is no good,” he said, his Cajun vowels deepening. All his years studying in northern schools, of hanging out with damn Yankees, hadn’t quite erased his accent. “I got so close, you know?”
“We can try again tomorrow,” Felicia said soothingly.
Remy knew that wouldn’t be any good, either. He could drive out here early tomorrow morning, follow Felicia’s little orange markers, and still never find the place he and Leon had stumbled upon. His sense of direction wasn’t as good in his human form.
“Felicia,” he said.
She looked up. He considered Felicia his colleague and one of his best friends, a woman who had believed in him, this Southern boy a long way from home. She’d stood by him back in Chicago when others didn’t.
She’d looked prettier than usual when she’d come into the collection room today, all soft colors with her hair down. That must have been the difference he sensed—she’d let her hair wisp about her face instead of scraping it back into a severe ponytail.
“What?” Felicia wrapped up her orange tape, waiting for him to finish.
Mortal Seductions Page 18