by Lia Davis, Milly Taiden, Kerry Adrienne, Vella Day, Andie Devaux
“What kind of job?” Suspicion sounded in her voice.
“My sisters are growing their minions a lot faster than I am. And since it seems it’s all due to love.” She rolled her eyes, “I think we need to start doing the same.”
Laura visibly gulped.
Good. Discomfort was a great way to keep her assistant on her toes. Plus, it was something Davi loved in her underlings. That and lies made her so very happy.
“What did you have in mind?” Laura tapped her chin, showing signs of her nerves with the shaking of her fingers.
Davi smiled, showing her amusement over Laura’s discomfort. “The new dating site we’ve been putting together.”
“Hellmatch.com?” Laura’s eyes widened before she glanced away.
“That’s the one.” Davi did a slow circle around Laura, taking in her short curvy assistant from every angle. Yep. She’d be perfect for what Davi had in mind. “You’re going to run it.”
Laura’s stiff frame held immobile. She jerked her gaze back to Davi. “Are you out of your mind?”
“Yes, but that’s beside the point. Are you saying you won’t do my bidding?” Davi caressed the back of Laura’s bun, yanking the stupid knot and letting the long dark curls flow free. Finally. She hated the damn bun with a passion and every time Laura walked into her office, Davi tore the long strands loose, only to have her assistant return with her hair tied even tighter the next time.
“No, but come on,” Laura snorted. “You have a team of people handling that thing. It’s going to be your biggest project after the new torture dome.”
True. But she wanted to grow her minions now. Right now! Laura had never let her down. Not once since she’d joined the ranks of the damned in hell. Her case had been special and Riyanna had sent her to Davi with the condition that she keep her close. Or Laura’s personality could show itself. Though Davi had yet to see her personality and it sparked her curiosity on a daily basis what it was her assistant hid.
Davi was tired of the all-accepting employee. Doing her bidding like it was fun. She wanted fire, spark. Hell, she wanted someone to debate with. Most of all, she wanted to see what lay beneath Laura’s calm façade. And screw it all to the high heavens she hated knowing her sisters could beat her at being her mother’s favorite. She’d worked damn hard to be the best. A union between Laura and her head warrior would bring lots and lots of little minions to help keep Davi number one in her mother’s book.
“I want the first match to be a success. So I am putting it in your hands.”
“I run reports on new souls entering your level. I don’t match people,” she choked out.
“You don’t have to. The system will do it. All you have to do is input the information and voila! A match made in hell.”
If Laura’s shoulders became any stiffer, Davi swore they’d break in pieces.
“After what happened in the last episode of Days of Our Hell, things need some lightening up. That ending sucked.” Laura took a step away from her. “Everyone’s excited over your work with Hellmatch.com, but you should keep it with the people who set it up.”
“No. You’re gonna ensure it’s a success. I have enough female underlings that you can find a match of the first warrior guard.”
“A warrior?” Laura groaned. “I know nothing about those guys. How would I know who to match him with?”
“You’ll get to meet him.”
“But—”
“It is your responsibility that he find true love, or some such nonsense, and mate.” Davi’s body heated, dropping the sexy exterior and showing the demon behind to her assistant. “Or you will be responsible for the consequences.”
Laura’s nose flared. Anger lit her brown eyes. Davi saw it then, the beast inside Laura. Rage. There wasn’t fear at seeing her master’s other self, only fury. Excitement lit Davi’s insides. Oh, she’d be letting that animal loose soon or she wasn’t the queen of the underworld’s daughter. It was time Laura let her true self show. And Davi knew just who to use to drive that wildness out.
“Go. I’ll tell you where to find him when the time is right.”
Laura pursed her lips and turned, stomping to the large cherry door.
Davi grinned. She summoned her favorite guard. Damien Wrath. Her body heated just thinking of the big, bad bastard. Too bad he refused to give in to temptation and sleep with her. Of course, if he did, he’d end up dead just like all her other lovers. Once she tired of them, she sent them into the pit. Davi hated commitment, and for some reason every time she got a new boy toy, they went and fell in love. Idiots. Damien was much more valuable to her alive than dead.
Damien glared at the buxom beauty before him and almost gave in to the urge to strangle her himself. Had she not been his boss, or the daughter of the queen of the underworld, or a hell of a lot stronger than him, he might have given in to temptation.
“No!”
Davi sighed. Her magnificence and that of her sisters was unmatched by any other being out there. With her long raven hair and crimson eyes, she was the picture of dark ethereal beauty. Unfortunately for him, that meant he had to smack the new guards under his command into the present whenever she showed up at the training fields. Her presence tended to bring out the idiot in all the young guards. Not him though. Damien had cared and lost one woman in his lifetime and nobody would ever replace her.
“I’m not asking for your opinion, Wrath. I am giving you a direct order,” she said in that soft, husky voice that turned his guards into drooling morons.
“And I said no.” What’s the worst that could happen? He was already in hell. Granted, it wasn’t the worst level of hell, but he’d never actually lived as an evil person. His wife had never made it there to join him. She must have died an innocent soul. He knew all kinds of torture from being alone for so many centuries without the one person he wished to be with. The one person he’d died for.
Davi jumped to her feet, her skin glimmered red under the office lights. She was pissed. If her flushed face wasn’t indication enough, there was the bright red eyes, the light smoke leaving her ears and of course, her growling. He stood his ground, sensing her anger at being disobeyed. She wanted to be angry? If she got beside herself his wolf would show itself.
Her hips swayed in her black leather skirt and red leather corset as she closed the distance between them. “You will do as I say.”
“Or?”
He knew he’d pushed his luck when her voice turned into a deathly growl. “I will see to it that you’re removed from the guards. You’ll be left with nothing to do all day but think of what you once had and how you lost it. Is that your wish?”
A knife to his heart would have had the same effect. “No!”
As it was, he had a hell of a time not drowning in the sorrow of how he’d died for his wife.
Davi turned her red lips into a sexy smile. That did nothing for him. Clearly having died had also killed his libido. He’d not had a single woman since he’d joined the guard ranks in the Seventh. Now he was going to get matched up whether he liked it or not.
“Fine. I’ll go through with this, but,” he growled. “If I can’t match with anyone, you’ll leave me the hell alone. That’s the deal.”
Davi’s predatory smile should have worried him, but he knew how to be the worst kind of male. After all, he’d been the best gladiator in his time and knew what women liked and what they didn’t. He never said he’d play the part of the perfect man for anyone.
“Of course. If you don’t find the one you want, we’ll leave it at that and you may go back to your life as usual.”
He squinted at his mistress. “Four is my limit. I will meet four and if none work, I am free.”
She nodded. “Very well. But keep in mind that you may end up asking me for one of them. When that happens, warrior….” She crowded his space, running a long red nail down his naked chest. “You’ll owe me.”
He snorted. The woman
might be gorgeous but she was definitely missing more than common sense. “If you can find someone that’s a right match for me, I’ll stand guard at your front door in my former gladiator outfit.” He saw her eyes brighten. “The same one you’ve been trying to make me wear for centuries.”
“Deal.”
Hearing that word from her made his stomach tighten a little. What had he agreed to?
Chapter Two
Laura stood several yards away from the practice fields. Burgundy trees and grass covered the surrounding area in a sea of red. It was like being in the forest back in the mortal world, but instead of green, everything was red. Boy had that been weird when she’d first arrived. Once she got used to it, she hadn’t minded the change in color. It still reminded her of home.
Her gaze wandered down to the men training. Davi’s guards. All of them wore black skintight pants, showing off their bulges — because her mistress just loved to have something to look at when one of them came near her. Bronzed skin and muscles galore, covered each warrior. Big, strong men with a background in fighting made up the guard. Not that there was a single ugly one in the lot.
Laura licked her lips, watching one of them swing a large battle ax over his head and decapitate a large Hellhound. The animal reared back, swiping angry claws at the man in front of him, only to have those cut down to bits as well.
“Great. Who the hell am I supposed to match one of these barbarians with?” she muttered. Gaze firmly glued on the giant wielding the ax, she tried to walk toward the training quarters without tripping as her heels dug into the soft grass.
The giant moved with an agility she’d never seen before. His shaggy dark hair and glistening skin drew her closer to the fighting area. Pure curiosity. That’s all it was. It wasn’t like she thought him interesting with those way too large muscles and that bronzed to perfection skin or those powerful legs flexing under the shorts he wore. Nope. Not. At. All.
The giant disappeared into the building that housed the guard quarters and training rooms. Only the preferred lived outside of the building.
Angry at Davi for putting her in this position, she grumbled her way into the building. Everyone appeared to have deserted the place.
Heading down one stone hallway, she stopped at the sound of voices. Great. There had to be someone there that could help her find the man she was supposed matchmake with one of Davi’s staff. Poor idiots.
She lifted a hand to knock when the wooden door was suddenly yanked away and a wide muscular chest replaced it. She gulped. Having lived her last life in a time where women didn’t really see much nakedness, she was caught offguard by the large amount of naked flesh. Muscular naked flesh. Really, really close. Her gaze trailed up slowly, to visually lick the droplets of water running down his torso, clinging to the man’s beaded nipples.
It took some doing to get her tongue to detach from the roof of her mouth, but when she did, she swallowed at the dryness in her throat. Continuing her journey up, she watched the man’s pecs flex. Sweat gathered in her palms. She really needed to get out more often if this — this barbarian made her feel so hot. She reached his face and nearly drooled. Holy mother of all vibrators.
“Like what you see?”
Hell yes! “I… er… What?”
He grinned. And she knew then that Davi would have no problem finding this guy a woman. Hell, she was tempted to put herself up in the running for him.
“I’m here to talk to Damien Wrath about Hellmatch.com.”
The smile dropped so fast she almost thought she’d imagined it. “Oh?”
“I’m Laura, Davi’s assistant.”
He raised a brow and gave her a slow once-over. Instinctively, she brought a hand up to her throat to ensure her blouse was still buttoned all the way up. Then, much to her consternation, he turned his back on her, leaving her standing there. Like a damn idiot. Talk about turn of events. After a moment of stupefied shock, she entered the room. She rushed after him, hating the slap of steam on her face when she passed the threshold. It was a frickin’ steam room. What kind of torture was that? He had to be a sadist. As if being in hell wasn’t hot enough, the stupid man was steaming. Her blouse became plastered to her skin and rubbed uncomfortably on her arms.
She hurried down the hall where she’d seen the warrior turn a corner. Breaths froze in her chest when she saw him tear off the towel around his waist, showing a perfect muscled ass. Well, damn it all to hell she could not unsee that no matter how much she tried. Not that her brain would let her. That visual went straight into the gonna-dream-with-later file.
“Are you Damien Wrath?”
“Maybe.”
“Yes, or no?”
He glanced over his shoulder at her, smiling while glancing down her body. “Why? You gonna be my next piece of ass?”
His brash language made her gasp and take a quick step back. What else did she expect from a barbarian, manners? Great. Fucking great. “No, I’m not. I’m here to ask you some questions so I can run the program to match you with someone.”
He chose that moment to turn around and show off his body to her as if it weren’t a big deal. Holy shit! Like she saw naked men all the damn time. Which she did not, she’d assure anyone who dared ask. If she had, she wouldn’t be standing there ogling the barbarian like she’d never seen a penis. Her thoughts trailed off a cliff and dived into the ocean of hormones she’d forgotten existed inside her body.
“Put some clothes on, you pervert!”
He smiled. Her heart flip-flopped in her chest. Great time to notice his nice smile and perfect teeth.
“Come on, you know you wanna watch.”
Yes, she did, but he didn’t need to know that. “I think you’re confused. I’m here to ask questions not inspect your…” She gulped. “Merchandise.”
She really hoped he didn’t notice that her nipples had beaded into tiny points under her silk top. It’d just make her that much more embarrassed to stand there gaping at his massive hard-on. How in the world could he walk around with that thing?
“Want to test it firsthand?” He took a step closer. His cock bobbed and her eyes grew wider.
“No…” She realized she’d trailed off and snapped her gaze up to his face. The bastard stood there smirking at her amazement. “I said I’m not interested in your... uh... thing there.”
He gripped his shaft in his hand, jerking up and down his hard length. “Then I guess you’re going to watch the show, huh?”
Her brain cells died a slow and quiet death while she stared at his hand in fascination. Her panties dampened to near soaked. Lord, she’d never seen anything like it. Her discomfort was overridden by the visual torture of the warrior caressing himself with slow strokes. Did he say show?
Excitement thickened her blood to the consistency of molasses. Up he went, tugging at his shaft and then roughly sliding his hand down again. This was new. This was different. This was awesome. She’d lived in an era where women didn’t show this much skin much less see a naked man prancing around. Heck, she’d married an old man to keep her family title only to have him die after their first time having sex.
Not that it had been an enjoyable experience she’d thought to repeat at first, but when she joined the ranks of the damned, she went a little bit ‘hell girls gone wild’ her first few days there with the drinking and the flirting. Even with all that, she hadn’t had enough sex or found it so enjoyable that she’d want to try it often. It took a serious talk from Riyanna to bring her back to reality. After that, she’d steered clear of men and sex. Though there were clubs for the damned to visit, she hadn’t ever bothered to step in one. Heck, her best friend Diana loved going to Hell’s Heat, the local male strip joint, but she’d stayed away.
Now here was this big bulgy man with a huge cock and the face of a fallen angel stroking himself and staring at her like it was something they did all the time.
“You have beautiful lips,” he said, squeezing himself
and jerking. Her gaze shot up to clash with his. “Pink and plump. Perfect to wrap around my cock.”
Damien didn’t know what was wrong with him. He could tell the woman, Laura, was shocked beyond belief at his actions. Yet he couldn’t seem to stop from stroking himself for her. Not normally this turned on by someone so covered up, he didn’t understand his reaction to the first woman he’d seen wearing that many clothes in hell.
Her eyes widened and her pink tongue slid over her full bottom lip in a soft sweep. Lord. Now all he could think of was her lips sucking him off. Her curvy body writhing under him while he pounded every single inch of his cock into her slick heat. He knew she wanted him. Could smell her desire. A shifter didn’t miss a thing. History books didn’t tell that not all gladiators had been humans.
For the first time in centuries, his mind wasn’t wrapped in the image of his wife, Kele. All he visualized was Laura. Fucking her. Licking her pussy. Watching her come. And though Kele had not been his mate, she’d loved him beyond belief, so he’d been loyal to her. But the sleeping wolf took a single whiff of Laura’s scent and woke from centuries of rest. His mate was there. And he wanted to claim her.
Her golden brown skin flushed. “I…” Her voice was breathless and so seductive he felt beads of his own desire gather at the tip of his cock. “I… really… think you should cover up.”
Electric shocks of pure lust shot down his back. She might not want to want him, but her eyes were eating up the vision of him touching himself. And the thought turned him on even more.
Arousal pushed him forward a step. She rushed back so fast she slipped. He moved swiftly and grabbed her before she hit the wet floor. As he helped her back to her feet, he became increasingly aware of his body plastered on hers. Soft curves shifted under his palms. Sexy curves. She had a body made for sin. Bountiful breasts pressed tight to his chest. Wide hips wiggled, yanking a groan from him. Her movements added to his aroused state. His cock stood so hard he could hammer nails with it. Her gaze locked with his. Even her ass was perfectly plump.