The Dragon King: Not So Ordinary: Ethereal Foes, Book 4

by Marie Harte

  The sex-god before them smiled at her, his look both devious and sensual. She honest-to-goodness shivered.

  “Sorry. No.”

  “Bi?” Milo tried again.

  “Right now, the only thing I am is interested in buying the lovely lady another beer.”

  Milo sighed. “Figures. One more Apocalypse coming up.” He saw the man’s fingers. “Make that two.”

  He left, and Ella stared up, and up, at Adonis come to life.

  “May I join you?”

  She flushed. Had she been drooling? She hoped not. “Sure, sure. Please, sit down. Sorry. It’s been a long day. I’m not as sharp as I usually am.” Ramble much, moron? Her cheeks felt on fire.

  He sat and stared.

  She didn’t care, because she was doing a good bit of staring of her own. Had she ever seen a man so pretty yet handsome? His silky black hair reached his shoulders. She’d never been into long-haired guys, but he wore it well. Nothing about his wide shoulders, broad chest and ropy arms bared by a short-sleeved tee-shirt seemed the least bit feminine. And his eyes. Just…wow.

  They were such a deep, dark brown they looked black. Kind of like hers, but with a hot factor enhanced by such long lashes—on a guy. In tandem with that square jaw and killer cheekbones, he had a face that would launch a thousand ships, for sure. That’s if his do-me body didn’t set them sailing first.

  “Who are you?” she found herself asking, out of breath. She couldn’t even look away to thank Milo for the beers he dropped off. Instead, she waited, somehow sensing this man’s answer would mean everything and nothing. Which made little sense, but then, he had that vibe, the one that normally made her wary. Certain people she’d met over the years possessed it, but never as strongly as this man did. She should have turned him away the moment he’d loomed over her table. But she hadn’t. Couldn’t.

  Change was coming. Hell, it was already here. Now what to do about him.

  Zelec had been to all the realms in existence. He’d blended with uppity angels, pretended to be human with mortals in the Ordinary, in bars just like this one, and always did his duty for Asael, a bastard of a boss and a fallen angel he respected. But in all his six hundred and four years, he’d never been so…taken…by a female.

  Human, for sure. He’d seen her return from the restrooms and had been unable to look away. She wasn’t too tall, maybe five-five in stocking feet. Her body wasn’t too big or too small. Average seemed fitting to describe her. Trim hips, slender thighs, no more than a handful in the breast department. Yet he could think of nothing he’d like better than to settle between her thighs and feast.

  Shocking. A high demon of his caliber was drawn to power, not humanity—the scourge of the middle realm. There was a reason they called this place the Ordinary. Boring, dull, mundane. People wanted money and power, but they had no idea what real power was.

  This female, though, was different. Special. He leaned closer, captivated by the devious set of her face. She had an almost elfin appearance. He’d peg her as cute but not sexy, pretty but not devastatingly beautiful. Until he stared into her eyes and his worlds collided.

  Darkness dwelled in eyes befitting a demon. So dark, so full of power, and yet so…human? It baffled him. But before he could second-guess himself, she took a sip of her drink, and he watched those firm, pink lips wrap around a bottle.

  Hard enough to hurt, he shifted in his seat, doing his best not to betray his eagerness or his lust. This attraction had to be a manipulation of some sort. But damn if he could figure out how. She didn’t seem holy, by any means, nor demonic.

  “Nephilim?” he asked, but her confusion was genuine. So not an angel-human halfbreed then.

  “What?”

  “Sorry. I thought that might be your last name,” he covered quickly. “You seem so familiar to me.”

  “Oh.” She smiled, and he sucked in a breath. Radiant in her joy, she captivated him all over again. “We’ve never met. Trust me, I’d remember.”

  He smiled. Good to know she felt a similar sense of attraction. He hadn’t missed her unspoken “Please say no” earlier either. “My name is Zelec.”

  “Zelec. Now that’s an interesting name.”

  “I had interesting parents.” Parent. He had no idea who his succubus of a mother had sired a child with. And neither did she. Story of his disconnected life, but hey, he’d never hurt in the sex department, at least.

  “Nice to meet you. I’m Ella.” She held out a hand.

  He took it. The instant connection between them snapped so hard into place he wouldn’t have been surprised to realize he’d teleported them both to his private lair in the Abyss, out of control of anything but the need to slake his lust. But no, they still sat, shaking hands, at a human bar saturated with the smell of stale alcohol and greasy fries.

  He didn’t want to let her go, but he also didn’t want to alarm her. She pulled back and frowned. He caught a sense of pain. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah. Just a headache.” She rubbed her temple. “Like I said, I had a long day.”

  “Here, let me help.” He touched her forehead and tried to push a small dose of healing energy into her. To his surprise, she shoved it right back out.

  “What are you doing?” She didn’t sound so enthralled with him now.

  “My apologies.” He quickly retreated. “My uncle taught me acupressure. I was going for your Third Eye Point.”

  She relaxed. “Sorry. I’m not a touchy-feely kind of person.”

  “And not with some grabby stranger you just met.” He gave her a wry grin. “Sorry. I don’t normally just reach out, but you said you’re hurting.” Usually he caused the hurt, but on this particular human, he wanted to ease it.

  Demons typically had talent in one or two psychic areas, with teleportation being the most common of their abilities. Zelec had the rare gifts of telekinesis, teleportation, healing and a few other skills. As far as he knew, only the Fallen and one or two others of his kind could manage what he could. Healing in particular belonged to those with a bent toward the light.

  Angels healed. Demons destroyed, yet he could repair damage on most anyone, like Asael’s idiot children, for example. Not wanting to dwell on the thought of James Sinclair when sitting with an intriguing and alluring female, Zelec leaned back to give the impression of respecting her space, then downed his beer in one swallow.

  He glanced over at the growing crowd and saw the male who’d been with her earlier serving another table. “So, the waiter. You two look alike. Relation?”

  She nodded. “My cousin.” She sipped slowly at her drink, driving him crazy. He’d never wanted to trade places with a bottle so badly before. “Milo’s a great guy. Too bad for him you’re not gay.”

  “Yes, isn’t it?” He winked at her, stealing another blush. “How old are you?”

  “You don’t beat around the bush, do you?”

  He shook his head. “Saves time to come to the point. I’m six hundred and four years old.” He paused, not sure why the hell he’d been so honest. “But I look about thirty, I think.”

  She chuckled. “I’d go with thirty, yeah. I’m twenty-seven, grandpa.”

  He liked her spirit. He would have looked closer at her soul, to see where it would go when it left its fleshy confines, but he didn’t want to spook her. That she’d rejected his healing warned him to be careful. Some humans were like that, sensitive to psychic activity. Apparently she was such a one.

  “Tell me about your long day,” he said.

  “You want to know?”

  “I asked, didn’t I?” Zelec enjoyed her repartee. She reminded him of Eve, in an odd way. The one child of Asael’s he didn’t mind.

  “I got even with a bitchy coworker who not only stole my promotion and pitched my ideas as her own, she stole the guy I’d been planning to ask out as well. It was amazing,
since I’m uber nice all the time.” She groaned. “I still can’t believe I did that. She deserved it, but I probably wrecked her career.”

  He liked her idea of vengeance, but her interest in another male annoyed him. “So now that the way is clear, are you going after your missing man?”

  “Nah. He’s too nice.” She drained her second beer and peered at him with interest. “You don’t seem too nice though.”

  “Thank you.” A sincere compliment. “You don’t either, and I mean that in the nicest way.” They shared a laugh. “I’m a big believer in getting what’s coming to you.”

  “Me too.” She clinked her empty bottle against his. “Especially since it happens so rarely in life.”

  “Another round?” He stood to go to the bar. Now that the place had become crowded, the wait staff would have a hard time spotting him waving an empty beer bottle.

  “Why not? I’m not driving.”

  “You live close? Wait, don’t tell me. That sounded too stalkerish. I’m not the best with women, but even I know that was too inquisitive.”

  “Inquisitive.” She grinned, maybe a little tipsy. “That’s a mouthful.” No, he sensed a clear-headedness about her, at odds with her headache. Then she did what he’d hoped she might. She gave his crotch a lingering once-over.

  The sign he’d been waiting for.

  He turned to the couple next to them. “We’re hitting the rest room. Save our seats?” It came out as a question, but the order he implanted into their minds ensured their compliance.

  “No problem,” the middle-aged women agreed, eyeing him like candy.

  As they should. Zelec could look like an impressive demon, an amazing angel or a sexy human. Or so he’d been told. Males and females never seemed to mind his appearance, no matter what guise he wore.

  “Restroom?” Ella asked as he tugged her with him toward the lavatories. “I don’t have to go.”

  “Yes, you do.” She must have understood his smoky need because she didn’t argue or try to pull away.

  They passed several people coming from the bathrooms, but he wanted something a bit more private. Seeing another door at the far end of the hall, he opened it without breaking stride. Once inside the supply closet, he locked the door behind them and pulled Ella into his arms.

  “What are you doing?” she squeaked. “I can’t see a blasted thing.”

  He flipped on a light switch. “Better?”

  She bit her lower lip, unable to miss noticing his arousal. “I-I’m not sure. What are we doing in here?”

  “We’re getting ready to fuck.”

  “Oh, wow. This really is my day.”

  His blunt words didn’t scare her. As he’d suspected, she wanted him. She blinked, and he swore her pupils took over the whites of her eyes. But then she was devouring him, and he lost himself in a kiss that rivaled that of any succubus he’d ever known.

  * * * * *

  Deep in the Abyss, Jentaron jerked while in a sound sleep, oddly aware of the stroke of a flaming hand over his scaly brow. He frowned, wondering why Kingu, an ancient creator deity, lingered in his territory. Typically the great being watched over the havoc.

  “Easy, King. It’s only a dream,” Kingu whispered. Power radiated from the creator’s core, making its presence impossible to mistake. “When four become one, you’ll know to begin. A new age.”

  “New age,” he mumbled, knowing he should snap out of this irritable fog. Something important seethed under Kingu’s words, but he couldn’t push through the mist of slumber to find it.

  “To face what’s coming.” The words came in a cacophony of voices, Kingu’s intent a force in and of itself.

  What’s coming echoed through Jentaron, and the images that followed made him cringe.

  Before he could brace himself against the chaos destroying his world, his scales and flesh turned liquid and melted away.

  “Sleep, young king. It’s time luck met chance and birthed destiny.”

  Jentaron knew this moment. He’d been born knowing just where he needed to be at this particular time. Even if he wasn’t conscious of why he needed to be there.

  He slipped into something far more powerful than sleep. Entwined bodies held him close, and he burned into the blood of need, belonging and lust. A hunger so raw it called to the innocence of his soul filled up his empty spaces.

  Jentaron continued to sleep while other parts of him, expanding pieces of his magic and soul he didn’t yet understand, kept him wide awake.

  Chapter Three

  Ella couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t take her mouth from Zelec’s either. She felt him fumbling with her slacks while she toed off her shoes. In seconds, he bared her from the waist down. Then his fingers were there, touching her, stroking her. Inside her.

  Staid Ella Nelson didn’t do strangers in supply closets. She could count on one hand the number of men who’d gotten her motor running enough to want to have sex, and she’d had a total of six boyfriends in her lifetime. But not one of them had turned her on the way Zelec was right now. Talk about the Best. Day. Ever.

  His tongue surged into her mouth just as his finger shot deeper and hooked inside her. And all thought ceased.

  She moaned and sucked that tongue deeper, stroking it the way she wanted to stroke his entire body.

  He finished the kiss and trailed his mouth to her ear, breathing as heavily as she was. “Have to be inside you.”

  “Yes.” Hurry, before this amazing need disappears.

  To her shock, she felt something…more. Zelec alone should have been enough to set her body and brain on fire. He had an energy more powerful than anything she’d ever encountered. But now, while he fiddled with his jeans, his mouth against her ear as he whispered all manner of depraved things, she heard another voice with his. One that contained a drive beyond that of mortal men.

  Much more, it seemed to promise.

  Then Zelec shoved her against a wall, pushing a hot, thick cock inside her, stretching her as he gripped her hips and rocked into her.

  Demands for safe sex, condoms, the STD talk—none of it mattered, which went against everything Ella believed in. She had never been swept away by passion. But now…

  “Harder,” she urged and kissed his neck. His chin. His ear. She bit his earlobe hard enough to draw blood, under the spell of a seduction she never wanted to end.

  He hissed his pleasure and slammed into her so hard she was surprised he didn’t hit her throat.

  “Fuck.” Zelec pumped twice more and stilled while she came violently, seizing around him while she gasped his name and gripped him with her legs. “Damn, Ella.”

  He started moving again, still hard inside her. She searched for him with her mouth and returned his kiss, hungry though she should have been spent. When he broke away she opened her eyes and stared into his red ones.

  Not black or brown, but impossibly red. Too turned on to be freaked out, she rode him hard into another climax and shook while he pounded into her. Her hips felt on fire from where he gripped her, and she found it hard to breathe as she sweltered into another rip-roaring orgasm he managed to silence with a kiss.

  When she could think again, her left leg started to cramp. “Oh, not now,” she rasped.

  He put a hand on her leg, and a weird energy floated over her. Heavy with intent and dark in will, yet it soothed all the same.

  “H-how…?”

  He didn’t smile at her, but a softness replaced his severe expression. As she watched, his eyes faded back to black.

  “Your eyes.” She felt stupid not to be more afraid of him, but she was too boneless and satisfied to worry.

  “Not as pretty as yours.” He flexed his hips.

  She stared at him in shock. “You’re still hard?”

  He couldn’t possibly still be hard. Just as it was crazy to continue to want hi
m. Had he slipped some weird drug into her beer when she hadn’t been looking? She’d had more sex in one night than with any boyfriend.

  “So was it your mother or father with wings?” he asked with a grin. “I knew there was a reason I—” He broke off with a scowl.

  Ella heard a buzzing, a low demanding power pushing at the man thick inside her.

  Wow. He’s still in me. That is so dirty. And cool, and just bizarre. Am I dreaming this?

  “Now?” Zelec sighed and closed his eyes. He lowered his forehead to rest it against hers. “Fuck.” He withdrew and set her down on wobbly legs. “Sorry, sweetie. I have to go.” He tucked himself back in his pants.

  Geez. He’d done her mostly dressed. Bonus cool points for spontaneity. “Go?”

  “But I’ll be back. We’ll talk about your parents, maybe make some kind of arrangement up here.” He kissed her lips, gently this time. “Oh yeah. Definitely.”

  “Huh?”

  She felt a draft against her bare ass and glanced around for her clothes. When she looked up, Zelec winked at her, then disappeared.

  He didn’t step away, didn’t go through a door or through the floor. He freaking went from there one second to gone the next.

  She gaped, not sure what to think. Something wet trickled down her inner thighs. Oh my God, I just had unprotected sex with a red-eyed stranger who vanished.

  Ella started to shiver, completely undone by the best sex of her life. With a crazy magic man. “Mother or father with wings? I have boarded the crazy train, for sure. This is wrong on so many levels.”

  So why did her time with Zelec feel so right? As she dressed, she wondered about the question, then hurried to the ladies’ room to clean up before her cousin caught her looking like a cheap hooker.

  She returned to her seat, thanked the women next to her for keeping it, then saw Milo, standing there gawking at her. Hell.

  He sat in Zelec’s seat. “You did not just have sex in the bathroom.” He leaned close to tug her hair. “You cheap ho!”

  “Supply closet. And keep your voice down.” She glanced around her, saw no one listening, and tried to act casual, as if she had sex with strangers every day. “What can I say? He couldn’t resist me.”