by Kiersten Fay
Then he paused, his demeanor changing, as if he were disgusted by her. Something in that response grated, and she lost her smile.
“I’m not entertaining this ridiculous conversation.” He turned to leave.
“Spoken like the truly guilty.”
The swiftness of Ethan’s attack caught her so off guard that her mind struggled to regain its equilibrium. She found herself pinned to the ground with Ethan on top of her. The bastard had kicked her legs out from under her and trapped her arms beside her head. The shock of it pounded a heavy beat in her chest, and her breaths quickened as she looked at him with utter disbelief.
His eyes blazed with fury. “Do you have any idea what we’ve been through? Anya nearly died! Still might. And you mean to accuse me of putting her in that position? You must think me wretched indeed.” His sneer was coupled with an emotion she couldn’t place.
“Get off of me!” Sonya wiggled under his weight.
He tightened his hold around her wrists, leaning in closer, his expression downright dangerous.
She tested her limbs, but was unable to pull free. Panic surged. Refusing to admit how thoroughly he’d subdued her—not to mention how embarrassingly easily—she made her expression nonchalant. Yet she feared he could hear the steadily increasing rhythm of her heart.
Worse, confusion bombarded her as she realized she wasn’t only frightened, but excited.
Suddenly, Ethan turned puzzled and his grip loosened. Not quite enough for her to get free, however.
“I’ll say this once, demon. Another accusation like that, and I won’t be so nice as I am now.”
Sonya snorted. “Pirate, if you hadn’t caught me by surprise, we’d be in a completely different position right now.” She caught the unintentional innuendo in her words and flushed. Unwanted images flashed in her mind, causing a heated pulse to rake up her body. She quickly reined it in, hoping Ethan’s mind wasn’t as perverse as hers seemed to be at the moment.
To her horror, he smiled. “If I hadn’t been tortured and sleep deprived for the last however many days, I might let you test out your theory, vietta.”
Sonya gasped. “Tortured?”
“Yes. Constantly, and ruthlessly.”
She eyed him up and down. “I see no cuts, scrapes, or bruises.”
He sneered back at her. “Ah, well, I must be a liar then. I’ll be sure to inform your brothers we all imagined it.”
Sonya ground her teeth before commenting, “I think you may have a different idea of what can be considered torture.”
“I’ll remember that the next time a blade is slicing its way down the side of my face while I’m chained down.”
Sonya tilted her head in confusion as a sickly feeling churned inside her. Had her brothers experienced torture like that? She searched his face, looking for a hint of a scar and finding no evidence.
“I can see I’ll never convince you, so I won’t bother to try. Go ahead and believe what you wish.” He pushed himself to stand, freeing her from his grasp.
She sat up, but remained where she was on the floor. Without a backward glance, he disappeared into the hallway.
In hindsight, she should have retaliated then and there, while his back was turned, but something in the way she had reacted to being at his mercy tormented her into stunned passivity. She cursed her body’s response to him, utterly confounded by it.
That word he had called her repeated in her head. Vietta. The way he had said it, she could almost swear it was meant to be tender, but nothing could be more ridiculous.
After a moment, she pushed to her feet and made her way to The Demon’s Punchbowl. Cale had let himself in and was seated at the bar, guzzling the last bit of her best liquor.
She approached him. “Tell me what happened.”
He blurted out a curse, wiping his mouth. “I was hoping not to recount it so soon.”
“So it’s true? You were tortured?”
“Aye. And that snake, Darius, had too much fun doing it.”
Sonya plopped down on a chair next to him and looked him over. “You’ve healed from it already? That’s quick, even for our kind.”
“Turns out the pirate’s a healer. He helped Anya first, then was able to heal us just before you picked us up. Lucky break he was there, too, or Anya would have died on that ship.” A crease formed between his brows, and he stared into his glass as though concentrating on a single thought. “Sebastian would have gone mad.”
Sonya wondered if Cale was thinking about Velicia. Shortly after his mate’s betrayal and their escape from the war that had devastated their planet, Cale had resigned himself to the Edge. Typically, when a demon loses a mate, an unending trip to the Edge is inevitable. “Sebastian would have returned to us, just as you did,” she reasoned.
Cale gave her a somber look. “For some reason, I seriously doubt it.”
She supposed he was right. Cale’s circumstance had been unique. He hadn’t lost his mate through death. In fact, Velicia could still be alive for all they knew. Yet her betrayal had been no less painful for Cale. He had slipped to the Edge, rendered a violent snarling beast. She and Sebastian were forced to keep him confined for many years.
Sonya would visit his cell often and speak with him as though he could understand her and might actually respond. She had never truly expected it to happen, though.
Then, one day, his eyes had cleared, and his manner returned to normal, surprising them all.
She couldn’t imagine how devastated Sebastian would have been if Anya had died, and she couldn’t assume that they’d be so lucky as to revive another demon from that kind of madness a second time.
Perhaps she owed the pirate some gratitude after all.
* * *
Ethan entered his room, fuming. Even after a lengthy shower and an attempt to rest, he couldn’t get Sonya’s accusation out of his head. Had she really thought him capable of handing them over to a madman like Darius? The disgust in her tone every time she called him pirate said yes.
Irritating female.
Why did he even care, anyway? He was a pirate—or, rather, had been—and there were no shortage of individuals who abhorred him for it. Why should she be any different?
Yet when she had accused him with such venom, something in him snapped. He had been overcome by the urge to force her to see him as the honorable soldier he’d once been.
But then he remembered he was no longer a soldier. Hadn’t been for a long time. Nor was he entirely pirate. He was some strange mix of the two.
And what was wrong with that?
Nothing, that’s what.
He had been sent on a mission and there was still much to do. Nadua needed to be found. Marik too, if it were possible. And only part of the book had been translated. Those pages held the location of Anya’s eldest sister, Kyralyn.
Perhaps translating would distract him from the she-demon. Yet, as angry as he was, he couldn’t ignore the way her arousal had cut through his mind like a hot blade.
It wasn’t difficult to discern what sort of male she preferred in her bed. Incidentally, he enjoyed filling such desires, but it was a moot point. As long as their animosity continued, she would never submit to him.
In any case, it was best he leave her alone. He wouldn’t want to cause friction between Sonya and his future bride, whichever one of Anya’s sisters that may be.
Chapter 10
A couple days later, Sebastian summoned Sonya to his room. Hope filled her that Anya might have awakened.
Disappointment settled in her stomach when she found Anya still bundled in his bed, unconscious. How long before Anya’s body gave up entirely?
Sonya glanced around the room, her eyes landing on Ethan. He looked better than he had the last time she’d seen him back in the docking bay. He was washed, shaved, and dressed in dark pants, boots, and a long coat. White-blond hair hung loose around his face, and he wore several gold trinkets: a few rings on his fingers and an ear piece near the point.
> Sebastian, however, looked worse.
“Ethan has translated more of the book.” Sebastian’s voice sounded guttural and raw. He barely took his tired eyes from Anya as he spoke. “He believes Anya’s eldest sister is dangerously close to being discovered by the Kayadon.”
“You’re only finding this out now?” she asked Ethan, her tone harsher than she intended.
“Translating is proving more difficult than I thought. It’s almost as if the book is bespelled to reveal bits of information at a time. I’m unsure if that’s truly the case, but it would make sense if the king needs us to follow a specific path—”
Sonya waved her hand in dismissal. “We can’t leave Marik to go after this other sister.”
Sebastian agreed. “We’ve discussed it already,” he told her. “Cale will be taking the shuttle ahead of us as while we search for Nadua and Marik. He’s preparing to leave today, and I would like you to go with him.”
“Go where?”
“A planet named Earth. We know little of this place, and what we do have on record is grossly outdated. It’s said to be a primitive place, the inhabitants: under-developed cave dwellers.”
“I’ll go and pack my things. How long till we depart?” She hid her relief at the prospect of leaving. It was the perfect opportunity to get away from Ethan. The fact that he took her down post-torture and exhausted shook her confidence slightly. More than that, she’d developed a nagging curiosity toward him. She found her mind conjuring images of him throughout the day…and night.
And she didn’t like it.
Ethan swept his gaze over her. The look in his eyes made her wonder if he could read her thoughts, but the suspicion was easily brushed away.
“Good. You’ll leave in a few hours,” Sebastian continued.
“Perfect.” Sonya turned to leave, forcing herself not to glance at Ethan as she did.
Ethan was in full support of the plan Sebastian had put forth…at least most of him was. His lower regions seemed to be protesting after seeing Sonya dressed in yet another of those too short skirts and tight laced up tops. But she needed to go. He didn’t want any distractions from translating the rest of the book.
“Has she stirred at all?” he asked Sebastian, who had gone back to gripping Anya’s hand and watching over her as she slept.
“Not a whit.”
Ethan’s heart sank. How long could it take for a soul to reconnect with its body? He feared he had somehow performed the binding wrong.
“Then I shall leave you be.”
“I have not thanked you yet,” Sebastian muttered, without taking his eyes from his mate.
“Thank me when she wakes,” Ethan replied before exiting the room.
He followed the familiar path back to his quarters and buried himself in the pages of the book. It had been relocated to his room soon after their return, the cover cautiously clamped open. If it closed, even by accident, and Anya did not awaken, they wouldn’t be able to open it again.
After hours of trying to decode the text, Ethan pushed away from his desk with a discouraged sigh. He’d been ignoring the grumble in his stomach for a while, but now it demanded food.
He stretched and headed for the galley. As he turned a corner, he spotted a furious-looking Sonya stomping a determined path in his direction. She barely seemed to notice him, however, and as she passed, he couldn’t keep from inquiring, “Is this your natural disposition?”
“That son of a bitch left without me!” Sonya shouted back at him. “Stubborn, arrogant bastard!”
Ethan shook his head, recalling that Cale had protested when Sebastian suggested he take Sonya with him. Ethan ignored the fact that his own mood lifted slightly and fell in step behind her. He reminded himself that having her gone was the better of the two situations. “Send him a transmission. I’m sure Cale can be reasoned with.”
“I did,” she growled back at him.
“And?” He eyed her backside, enjoying the view of her swaying hips and slender tail, swishing back and forth as she marched with purpose.
“He said he didn’t need his little sister tagging along.” Then she grumbled out a few choice words in Demonish.
He had run with a group of demons a few years back and was surprised by how much of the language he remembered. From that same experience, he could tell that Sonya was nowhere near the kind of anger she was outwardly portraying. Her horns hadn’t even started to redden and her irises kept their deep violet hue.
Amused, and curious to see where she was headed, he followed her all the way back to Sebastian’s room. However, when they arrived, he received a strong impression from Sebastian on the other side of the closed door.
He gripped Sonya’s wrist and pulled her back before she could intrude.
She pivoted around, appearing alarmed by his physical touch, and then yanked her arm out of his grasp.
“You don’t want to go in there,” he informed her.
She held her arm to her chest. “Is that so?”
“I don’t think your brother would be too happy about you interrupting his reunion with Anya.”
Sonya’s eyes widened. “She’s awake? Why did no one tell me?”
“Apparently, it was very recent,” he hedged. “I believe they’d appreciate some time alone.”
Sonya’s lips formed an O before transforming into a wide smile. She clapped her hands together. “She’s okay! Thanks the gods!”
Sonya threw her arms around his neck as she bounced with excitement. His breath stuck in his throat as other parts of him sprang to life.
Once the shock wore off, he raised his hand to return the embrace, but in that moment, she seemed to realize what she was doing. She backed away, looking momentarily alarmed over her own actions.
She schooled her features. “By the way, Cale told me what you did for them. I suppose I should thank you.”
“I suppose you should.” He crossed his arms.
She shot him an unamused look, and he returned it with one of blank patience, the exact opposite of what he was feeling.
“There’s also the matter of your new job.”
Ethan raised a brow.
“With Cale gone, I’ll continue to help Sebastian in the control room, so I won’t be spending as much time in The Demon’s Punchbowl. I’ll need to train you to take my place.”
“No need. I’ve worked in a tavern before.”
“Even so. The pub is my establishment, and I’d like to be sure you do things my way.”
“There can’t be much to go over. Besides, is this really important now?”
“Perhaps not, but what else have you got to do? Cale’s on his way to Earth, and we’re on our way back to Undewla. What more can the book tell you at this point?”
Ethan conceded she had a point. He’d hit a virtual wall once Kyra’s location had been revealed.
He shrugged. “Fine, let’s go.”
Chapter 11
Sonya squirmed in her seat, wondering what had compelled her to think this was a good idea.
Ethan stood on the other side of the bar, his back turned to her as he reached for yet another bottle. He had removed his coat and was covered in only a thin white shirt and a pair of fitted pants that continued to draw her eye downward.
Not to mention, he had smelled delicious. Enough so, she’d decided to act as a customer just as an excuse to put some much-needed space between them. Instead, it only gave her a better view.
He smirked at her, but said nothing.
Her…attraction—for that’s what she finally realized it was—disturbed her to no end. How could she find a pirate desirable? Especially one who reminded her so much of the man who had callously murdered her father—at least as far as his hair and build were concerned.
She shook the thought away. “How many bottles of my liquor are you going to use in this one drink?”
He gave her his profile, and a corner of his mouth quirked. “Just the right amount.”
She prayed someone wou
ld step through that door soon. Anyone. Because with every second that passed, she was becoming more and more worked up, her skin heating as though she’d caught fever. Dark temptations swirled: images of tangled bodies spurred by urgent needs.
She inhaled and shook her head. When was he going to finish that drink? “Did you lose your train of thought?”
He looked at her then, and it was as if the same heated musings had been rolling around in his mind as well.
She blinked, and his expression returned to normal.
Had she imagined it?
He stepped forward and placed the finished drink in front of her. “Take a taste.”
Had his voice always sounded that inviting?
She snatched the glass and brought the liquid to her lips, ready to slap him with her judgment. The drink went down surprisingly smooth, despite containing some of her strongest brands.
He watched her as she licked off the excess liquor off her lips. Their eyes locked, and his were filled with pure masculine interest. White-hot desire pooled between her thighs.
She made her tone nonchalant. “It’s not great, but it will do. Try not to use so much product next time.” Unable to stay another moment, she hopped off the stool. “Okay then, I’ll leave you to it.”
Ethan tilted his head.
On her way out, she called back, “If you treat my pub with anything less than the utmost respect, your ass will kiss the larger end of one of these bottles.”
Ethan gaped as she disappeared through the door, not because of her threat. Throughout the night, her wavering intent had provoked an intense hunger in him, and his lower regions had assembled in full-on attack mode.
For a moment, she’d been determined to leap over the bar and ambush him in the most delicious way. He had waited, giving her every opportunity to do so. The desire, so intense, had swirled around her, and he drank it in, hardening with each bated breath. He had allowed himself to imagine how he would subdue her before ravaging her as he knew she wanted.