I tugged at the waist of his jeans and popped the buttons, laughing into a kiss. He swept an arm around my waist and nuzzled my neck. I turned my head away, sinking my free hand into his wet hair as he planted frostbitten kisses on my neck and shoulder, deliberately summoning a little of his element into each touch. The pierce of ice through the heat shivered a primal need through me. “You’re lucky I’m only half of me,” I growled.
He dragged his gaze back to mine, and the unadulterated look of need he gave sent a quivering wave of desire pulsing through me. Panting, drowning in the urge to have him, all of him, I knew there was more to this than just a distraction. There always had been. I slid an arm around his neck and pulled him down into a kiss that came straight from my heart, my soul. It was the sort of kiss that defines moments, seals destinies, the kiss you remember forever. Whether he knew it or not, I’d fallen for him.
I shoved him back up against the tiles. He responded with a husky growl, the sound deep enough to be part demon. It was my turn to tease. I stepped back, even though every inch of my body ached to be near him. As the scolding water streamed over me, rushing through my hair, over my face and shoulders and down the plain of my stomach, his eyes drank me, devouring every inch of me. His smile said enough without words. He reached for me but I batted his hand away and quirked an eyebrow. Stefan lifted his chin, smile turning wicked. I scattered fleeting kisses across his chest. He muttered my name under rapid breaths. When I nipped at the tight flanks of muscle, he twitched and gasped. Wandering lower, I traced the tip of my tongue over the scorpion tattoo. His sharp intake of breath heightened my own maddening desire. Looking up the length of his body, he looked down at me, his smile interrupted as I tugged the jeans over his hips. He dropped his head back against the tiles, eyes closed, giving himself to me completely.
Stefan had hooked a leg over mine. The naked length of his body lay against me, his head propped up on a hand. He watched me while I stared at the ceiling. It occurred to me that the Institute had probably heard everything. Someone somewhere had been listening to one hell of a show, but I didn’t care. Let them listen. His fingers skipped a haphazard path across my chest, deliberately tickling. I batted his hand away with a chuckle. He responded by summoning a small ball of ice into the palm of his hand. Pinching the ball between his fingers he traced lazy circles across my midriff. I giggled and closed my eyes, enjoying the sensation. Our time together, it felt wonderful in ways I didn’t know were even possible and there was so much more we could do. If I had my demon, if we both embraced our elements and came together like we had then… The thought alone snatched my breath away and fluttered my heart in my chest. The resulting pleasure ride would be a primal thing; beyond words and likely dangerous, but imagine the thrill, the ecstasy, our elements entwined like the two scorpions in Stefan’s tattoo. But our time was coming to an end, and we both knew it. In a few hours, I’d be with Akil and there was no guarantee I’d ever see Stefan again.
He sat up on the edge of the bed and rolled his left shoulder, wincing a little. I knelt behind him and kissed around the stitches. He watched me over his shoulder. I took that as an invitation to continue and teased fluttery kisses across his shoulder. “You held back…” I said.
He closed his eyes, leaning his head back. “Of course. You’re vulnerable without your demon. I didn’t want to hur—” He flinched as I nipped at his shoulder, and then twisted with a grin, and pinned me down on the bed.
I’d known he was holding back. His control was faultless. He was right. Without my demon, I was essentially human and vulnerable. Had he lost control of his element, he could easily have hurt me, but I’d sensed more hesitation than that. Looking up at him now, nothing of that hesitance remained. There was a chance I’d imagined it…
He kissed me slowly, languishing in the moment. I rose up into that kiss. I didn’t want to let him go and pulled him close, slipping my hands down the curve of his back. The things we could do together with more time–but he pulled away.
“They’ll be asking for us soon,” Stefan said. I pulled him back down into one last, lingering kiss and then let him go. His roaming gaze slid over my body. A magnetic pull attempted to drag us back together, but he resisted with a sigh and stood to retrieve the injector from the desk.
Returning to the bedside, he asked, “Ready?”
I sat up, nodded and let him take my hand. A trickle of shivers surprised me, as though fear was trying to warn me. Stefan’s words came back to me; ‘If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to be entirely human; you’re feeling it now.’
He noticed the goose bumps prickling my skin. “Sure?”
He might pine after normality, but I did not.
He jabbed the injector against my hand. A slight hiss and it was done. I closed my eyes. Within a few seconds, I felt my demon rush toward me, building inside me. Her weight, the elemental force, rolled over me, washing through me, wave after wave, pouring its strength—its energy—back into my flesh, my muscles and bones. I cried out, back arching, the power blazing white hot beneath my skin. Only when the force of her return passed, could Stefan close his arms around me. My fire inched outward, inspecting him, invisible tendrils threading around him, through him, curiously seeking his demon. I felt the cool touch of his ice element respond like the meeting of old friends.
He brushed my hair back and kissed the top of my head. “It’s going to be okay.”
I don’t know who he was trying to convince, me or himself. Either way, I didn’t reply.
Chapter 23
My high heels tapped out a beat as I walked beside Ryder down the hall toward Adam’s office. He continued to grin at me, making no attempt to hide his smirk. I wore a short black dress. Knee high boots clashed somewhat with the dainty little dress. I’d asked for a ‘sexy’ dress and boots since I didn’t have a single item of clothing to my name. It was all for Akil’s benefit, of course, but the boots were my indulgence.
We stopped at Adam’s office. Ryder knocked, his tongue poking into his cheek as he arched an eyebrow at me. His wandering gaze had gone beyond irritating and into humorous. As much as Ryder grated on me, I was beginning to appreciate his honesty in a world filled with lies. “Will I see Stefan before I leave?”
Ryder shrugged. “Not bored of him yet then?”
I smiled. “Careful. Too hot to handle.”
He lifted his hand. “I remember.”
We shared a chuckle just as Adam called from beyond the closed door. Ryder opened the door, gave me a loose farewell salute and closed it behind me. Adam plucked his glasses from his face and stood behind his desk. He wasn’t sneering, too proud for that, but he wasn’t going to tolerate my presence any longer than necessary.
“Are you ready?” He stayed on his feet.
He had a commanding presence. Perhaps that’s where Stefan got his innate confidence. Clearly, Adam was not a man to be trifled with.
“Why did you want to see me?” I avoided his question because I could.
“I wanted to thank you, for doing this.”
A frown touched my face. “I’m not doing it for you or this place.”
“Nevertheless, we have the same goals.” He lifted his chin, raising his gaze to look down his nose at me. “My offer stands. We could use something—someone like you.”
His choice of words dragged a smile across my lips. “Use being the operative word.” I stepped closer. “I’ve known demons more human than you. I never want to see you or your people again.”
“Good. Then I suggest you never mention any of this to Akil. We wouldn’t want anything to happen to you… if you manage to survive him.”
I snorted a laugh. This man was a waste of my time. I had bigger fish to fry. “Stefan was right when he said you don’t want to make an enemy of me. If I can kill my demon owner, I can certainly kill you.”
A smile cracked his otherwise impassive face. “Then we’re on the same page.” He sat down and picked up the file in front of him, replacing his glasses.
“Good luck, Muse.” I got the distinct impression he didn’t mean it.
Chapter 24
It was snowing when I reached Akil’s waterfront hotel. The sun, little more than a dull orb, hung low in the sky behind the skyscrapers of the financial district, its radiance smothered by a heavy blanket of gray clouds. I pulled my leather jacket tighter around me, flicked the collar up, and jogged up the steps into the Atlantic Hotel.
Walking into the opulent foyer, I felt a little like Julia Roberts, and not in a good way. My dress was too short and my boots too close to the knee. The bottle of red wine in my left hand finished off the rock chick don’t-give-a-damn attitude. I’d buried my right hand in a jacket pocket. The injector nestled safely in my closed fist.
Catching the empty elevator before the doors pinged shut, I turned and saw Nica running toward me. I jammed my foot in the door, and she slipped inside, barely meeting my querying glance until the doors closed.
She faced me, suddenly animated, hands skittish. “Don’t talk. Just listen. Stefan is lying to you—”
“I know.”
“No, you really don’t.” She gripped my arms, her face pale and eyes wide. “I don’t have enough time to explain everything. He knows you’re here. Listen. Stefan is working for Akil.”
“I know.” I said again. She needed to calm down and listen to me. None of this was headline news.
She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, then stepped back and chewed on a nail. “You don’t.”
We were running out of time. The elevator chimed its floors, fast approaching the penthouse suite.
“Nica.” I tried to give her a reassuring smile. “It’s okay. He told me everything.”
The sheer depth of her pained expression trickled a rivulet of fear down my spine.
“You’re in danger, Muse.” Her hand went to her throat. “We all are.”
The elevator chimed, and the doors opened, revealing the vast penthouse entrance hall with its opulent fitments and gleaming white walls. We stood looking at one another, no words, just confusion and fear bouncing between us. Then I stepped off the elevator and turned to watch the doors close between us. The expression of terror on her face had unsettled me, to say the least. Already nervous and afraid, I really hadn’t needed her panicked, last minute pep talk. I shook myself, trying to chase away the renewed fear. Sucking in a deep breath, rolling my shoulders back, and keeping my head up, I strode forward into the lounge.
Akil stood by the windows, his back to me, but he saw my reflection in the glass like a ghost, hovering just out of reach. Fat snowflakes twirled in the air outside, bumping against the window. Occasionally, the wind would sweep them up and hurry them along, only for more to return. He wore a blood red shirt complimented by charcoal trousers, and even after everything he’d done, my shallow heart did a little traitorous flip at the sight of him. The mahogany color of his hair, the bronze glow to his skin, all seemed surreal after how I’d left him, face down on the ground, body riddled with bullet holes.
He looked over his shoulder at me. “You owe me an apology.”
A spark of anger ignited inside me, quickly combining with fear to create a heady concoction of emotion that conspired to undermine my resolve. I couldn’t mess this up. If I reacted in a way he found suspicious, it would all be over, but how exactly was I meant to react? The things he’d done. The things he had yet to do… Threatening to tear my demon out of me, literally peel my skin from my bones. How was I supposed to process all that?
“I’m not apologizing to you.” I settled resolutely on anger and moved to the leather couch where I dumped the bottle of wine on the glass coffee table with enough careless force to rattle the glass.
“Then why did you come here?”
“Where else could I go?” I threw my glare over the back of the couch at him. “You burned my apartment.”
He tilted his head to the side, assessing me, reading everything. The way I sat, my quickness of breath, the race of my heart, how I tucked my hair back behind my ear. I moistened my lips. He’d see it all, searching for any inconsistency. Maybe I was being paranoid, but I doubted it. His curious eyes drank me in, absorbing everything, making my skin crawl.
“I…” I faced forward, feeling the weight of his gaze burn into the back of my head. “I know I can’t get away from you. So, I thought, why bother?” I needed to tone down the tight note of fear in my voice and hide the shake in my hands if this was going to work. “So…I’m ready.”
He was suddenly behind me. I swallowed as his hands rested on my shoulders. His fingers squeezed, and for a moment, I wondered if he might try to strangle me, as he had at the marina. What was I doing here? I couldn’t do this.
His thumbs rubbed against my back in undulating circular motions, massaging the tightness from my muscles. I tilted my head back a little, finding his touch bizarrely comforting. “Before you take me home… I wanted to ask something,” I whispered.
“Yes.”
I jumped at his whisper against my ear.
“I wanted us to spend the night together. I mean, like this. We talk. We maybe… y’know. I brought wine.” I was rambling, but that was okay, wasn’t it? It was acceptable to be terrified of him. His hands vanished from my shoulders. I waited. He could break my neck without missing a heartbeat or stab me in the back, and I would never see it coming. No, no he wouldn’t. He wanted me alive. If I died, my demon died too. To get to her, he had to keep my human half safe.
He moved around the couch and placed two wine glasses down on the table. I held back my sigh of relief and sunk my trembling hands between my thighs.
“You left me there, Muse.” His level tone made it impossible for me to gauge his mood.
I blinked, my nervous smile flickering across the surface of my tight expression. My skin flushed with a clammy heat. Panic skittered at the edges of my thoughts, desperate to break through.
He caught my hesitation, my confusion. “At the house by the lake.” He poured the wine. The swirl of the alcohol against the clear glass distracted me.
I laced a hand through my hair, tucking it back, out of my eyes. “You did set the hounds on me.”
He handed me a glass, and I eagerly gulped back a few generous mouthfuls. I spluttered a little, lifting a quivering hand to my lips. Akil sat neatly next to me, draping his left arm over the back of the couch toward me, swirling his wine in his right hand. He appeared to be amused by my obvious anxiety and my failed attempts at concealing it. I might even have said he was savoring the moment, deliberately dragging every hesitation out of me, hanging on every stuttered word as though he knew what I was planning. He couldn‘t know, but that didn’t stop me from fearing he did.
“The Hellhounds make for unbiased sparring partners, don’t you think?” When I didn’t reply, he said, “It was for your own good.” His hazel eyes never left me, testing me, probing me, delving into my soul.
“How exactly does sending the hounds after me do me good?” My anger flared a little brighter, finding fuel. Anger, I could use. Fear, I could not.
“I wanted to know how strong you are. Think of it as a series of trials. To see if you’re worthy.”
I pinched my lips closed and placed my glass back on the table, unable to look at him. Heat seeped from my skin. Anger smoldered inside me, emotions fueling the summoning of my element, just as Akil had taught me. Channel all of the hatred, all of the abuse, the fury and fear. Funnel every instance of pain into your center, and release it to your demon. He had told me that. Stop fighting it, he’d said. Let her in, and I could do anything.
“You saved me.” I said, surprised by my own words and the tremble of my voice. Tears pooled in my eyes. “You saved me from Damien and every day thereafter. You kept me safe… all this time. Kept Val away from me…” When I faced him, the tears skipped unbidden down my cheeks. “I thought…” I gritted my teeth, forcing the painful truth out. “I thought you loved me.”
“No, you didn’t,” he calmly replied.
“Fuck you, Akil. Of course I did. Maybe not in the beginning. But… what we had… The way you—” Damnit, the words wouldn’t come. I shot to my feet and walked a few strides away from him, heels clicking on the marble tiles. “When we were—when we are together, I feel as though there is nothing else in this world. Nothing else matters, just you. You let me think that. All these years, you played me.” He set his glass down and moved around the couch. I couldn’t stand to look at him. Hand on my hip, I bowed my head, hiding my face behind my hair.
“You. Left. Me.”
I recognized his anger and felt a quiver of terror ripple through my already tense muscles. I straightened. He came toward me, lips pulled tight in a grimace. I fought the urge to turn and run. Planting my feet firmly, I stood my ground, summoning a little more of my element.
“You left me, Muse,” he hissed. “You walked away.” He stood too close against me. His power reached out to embrace me.
“Don’t pull that shit, Akil. So, I walked away? Big deal. It’s not like you couldn’t find me. This isn’t about me leaving you; it’s about you playing me from the first time you saw me.” He lifted a hand to touch my face, but I batted it away. “You must have thought it was your lucky day. Here was some lesser demon with a half-blood as a pet. Beaten, abused, one wing missing. I bet that ticked all your boxes. Didn’t it?”
This time, he lifted a hand to strike me, but stopped short as our eyes met. He would see the fury broiling in my irises.
“Go on,” I sneered. “Do it. You’re no better than he was. You’ve been working me, biding your time, watching me squirm like a worm on a hook, ready for you to take the last bite. You make me sick.”
He stepped back, his perfect face set in a frown. “I did all of that for you.”
I laughed. The maniacal sound of it reverberated around the room. “Is that what you tell yourself? Did you kill Sam for me?”
Akil’s lips twitched in a snarl. “Sam was nothing. An obstacle. A distraction. He didn’t deserve you.”
Demons & Djinn: Nine Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Novels Featuring Demons, Djinn, and other Bad Boys of the Underworld Page 162