Scalding wind whipped around her, lifting her hair and tugging at her clothes. Still she didn’t try to rein it in. She lost herself to it. Let the energy fly from the tips of her fingers, hoping she’d burn into nothingness. Disappear.
She didn’t want to be here, not without Zenon.
Someone shouted her name.
She squeezed her eyes closed and poured everything out of her until there was nothing left, until she had drained every last bit of her power. She sagged against Zenon’s still form.
“Mia, Christ. Are you all right?” Rocco said from close by.
She shook her head, tears streaming down her face. “I’m still here.”
“Zenon wouldn’t want this…”
Thump.
Rocco’s words drifted into the background.
Thump.
She moved higher and placed her fingers loosely over his cracked lips. Warmth rushed across her skin.
“Mia?” Lazarus said.
“He’s breathing,” she whispered, scrambling off him to give him space.
Rocco bent down and put his ear to Zenon’s chest. “Shit. She’s right.”
James came up beside them. “You were glowing.”
She tore her gaze away from Zenon. “What?”
“Lit up like the freakin’ fourth of July. That energy you give him, you just fired a whole hell of a lot into him. I think it…I think you healed him.”
Zenon wheezed in a deep breath, and she fell back to her knees beside him. “Zenon?”
His eyelids fluttered open, yellow irises finding and focusing on her, and he smiled. A wide grin that spread across his beautiful face. “Mia,” he rasped then he closed his eyes again, this time to sleep.
Mia dropped her head into her hands and cried, but this time they were happy tears.
Zenon leaned over the bed and kissed Mia’s soft, warm lips. She wiggled and released a breathy sigh, but was still out cold. Healing him had hit her hard, and she’d been out for hours.
Reluctant to leave, he tucked the covers around her and watched her sleep for several more minutes. She’d lost weight, and her thick lashes didn’t hide the dark circles under her eyes.
His beautiful female was as fragile as any human. And he planned on spending however many years they had together, taking care of her, making sure she knew how much he loved and cherished her.
Another wave of emotion washed over him.
I’m free.
He still couldn’t believe it. And it was all thanks to the precious female in his bed. He owed her everything.
The pull came again. Someone wanted to talk to him and he’d kept him waiting long enough. He reluctantly left his apartment and made his way to the control room then out onto the balcony.
Silas stood looking beyond the barren land behind the compound and into the muted glow of the setting sun. “I didn’t know if you’d come,” he said.
Zenon moved up beside him. “You knew.”
His big shoulders lifted, causing his golden wings to shift, the feathers dancing in the breeze. “Yes.”
“When did you find out? Why didn’t you tell me?”
He turned, face half concealed in shadow, but still Zenon could see the strain etched into his features. “Your arm.” He pointed to the set of markings each knight was born with, telling the story of where they came from, what they were. “That is the mark of Lucifer’s bloodline on your skin. When I saw it, I knew. As for why I didn’t tell you, you weren’t ready. You had enough to deal with without adding to it.”
“What happens now?”
“We make sure Diemos stays in Hell.”
“That easy, huh?”
A grin tugged at Silas’s lips. “Sure.”
“What about Lucifer?”
“You have nothing to fear from him. Besides, he has his own problems to deal with,” he said cryptically.
You were no mistake. Diemos’s words drifted through his mind, and he resisted the shiver that moved through him. “I hope you’re right. For everyone’s sakes.”
“Me, too.”
Zenon watched him carefully. “You don’t know?”
Silas ran a hand over his face, and for the first time in all the years he’d known him, the other male looked tired, exhausted. Worried. “Things can change. The path isn’t set in stone.”
“Jesus.”
“No. Just an angel.”
Silence stretched out. Zenon finally broke it. “Thank you, Silas.”
His brows lifted. “For what?”
“For forcing me into this new life, even if I fought you all the way.”
Silas smiled. “You were worth it, Zenon.”
Ah, shit. A lump formed in the back of his throat. “That part of my life…before, will always be there, yanno, trying to drag me down. The shame.” He shook his head when Silas opened his mouth to speak. “Yeah, it’ll haunt me for the rest of my life. I know that, but with Mia by my side, I know I can fight back the nightmares.”
“That you can, my son.” They were the same words Diemos had used, but coming from Silas they meant something, meant so much. The other male took a step back. “Now, go to her. It’s time you claimed your mate.”
“I can’t. We—”
“You’re free, Zenon. Go to her.” The angel extended his wings and took to the sky.
Was it possible?
Zenon walked back through the control room, and as he entered the hall, broke into a jog. Too impatient to wait for the elevator, he jumped the flight of stairs to the lower level and didn’t slow until he reached his apartment. As he opened the door, Mia walked out of the bedroom. A smile lit up her face when she saw him. How did this happen? How did he get so fucking lucky?
“You’re back. I missed you.” Her smile faltered when she took in his expression, and a small gasp slipped past her lips, not missing the need in his eyes.
“You okay?” he rasped.
“Good as new.”
Reaching back, he pulled his shirt over his head and continued toward her. “I need you, Mia.” He didn’t slow, lifted her off the ground, and carried her back into the bedroom. There was no time for finesse. All he wanted was his female naked, wanted deep inside her.
Standing her on her feet, he pulled the T-shirt she wore over her head then took her mouth, kissing her hard and urgent.
“Is everything all right?” she whispered, clutching his shoulders.
“No. I’m not inside you,” he growled against the soft silk of her hair.
Her fingers trailed down his chest, over his abs to unzip his jeans, and her bare breasts brushed his stomach. She rested her forehead against his heart, and they both trembled when she took his cock in her hands and began to work his straining flesh. “I need you, too.”
He needed her touch, craved it. “Are you ready for me, princess? I don’t think I can wait.” He cupped her sex, sliding a finger through her cleft, and groaned when he felt how wet she was for him.
Releasing him, she stepped back and climbed onto the bed, lying back on the rumpled sheets. Zenon stalked her and covered her lush curves. She opened for him, wrapping her legs around his waist. “Please.” It was all she said, all she needed to say.
Zenon pushed inside the wet heat of her body, and they both moaned. They’d been apart too long and there was no way he could take this slow. He jerked back his hips and slammed forward. Taking her mouth in an almost brutal kiss, he let sensation take over. Mia thrust a hand in his hair, kissing him just as fiercely. Her other hand gripped his ass, egging him on, asking for more without words. He gave it to her. He was lost to the desperate need he had for her, and she was right there with him.
And then it appeared, that silvery thread he thought had vanished forever, the connection that would link them together for eternity.
“It’s there,” he gasped out. “It’s back. I see it.”
A sob broke past Mia’s lips. “It’s there?”
He looked down at her, choking on the emotions clogging h
is throat, and nodded. “You ready?” he rasped.
Her arms tightened around him and he stared into her beautiful eyes welling with tears.
“Take it,” she said. “Make me yours.”
He grabbed on, held on tight. Mia cried out, digging her nails into his skin as she came.
No, there were no words for what he felt in that moment, and there never would be. Nothing existed that could describe something that was this perfect, this pure. Every part of him was alive. It was Mia, she made him feel this way, and when he looked back down at her he knew she felt it, too. That he did that for her as well.
Thrusting into her one last time, burying himself to the hilt, he held her to him and came hard, filling her, claiming her as his mate. The primal sound that left him was raw, untamed, staking his claim over the female beneath him.
He pressed his face against her throat and breathed in her scent while he tried to slow the beating of his heart. “You’re mine now, Mia. I’ll never let you go. I can’t.”
She ran her hands up his back, threaded her fingers in the hair at his nape, and massaged gently. “And you are mine.” She pressed a kiss to his temple. “If you ever tried to let me go, I’d just follow.”
“Jesus. I love you.” Lifting up, he kissed her.
“I love you, too.”
He pulled out a little and slid back inside her, loving the way her lips parted, her gasp puffing across his skin. He grinned. “I don’t plan on letting you out of this bed for a while.” He continued to move in slow, measured thrusts, torturing them both.
Her face flushed and she tightened her arms around his shoulders. “If you tried to get out right now, I’d tackle you to the floor.”
He laughed, and her eyes turned liquid. “What is it?”
She sniffed and smiled up at him. “I love hearing you laugh. I’ll never tire of hearing it.”
No words existed that could express what she did to him when she talked like that. So he leaned in and kissed her deep, pouring every bit of emotion he felt into it, swallowing her moans while running his thumbs across her smooth skin, wiping away her tears.
“I love you, too,” she whispered against his lips when he finally let her up for air.
“Damn, female, I’m trying to go slow here, but with you talking to me all sweet like that…”
Mia quirked a brow. “And that’s a problem?”
Zenon couldn’t help it. He threw back his head and laughed again. When he finally pulled his shit together enough to stop, and after taking his time kissing her again, he tortured them both and made love to his mate slowly.
Epilogue
Mia left their new guest with Eve and Lazarus. The demi was still pretty shaken up after his retrieval earlier that day. And by the sounds of it, getting to him in time had been a close call. Lazarus and Gunner had more than a few cuts and scrapes to prove it.
There was a lot going on, inside the compound and out, but despite it all, the last few months had been the happiest in Mia’s life.
And now it was going to get even better.
Brent was opening a new club in Roxburgh and Chaya had volunteered to move to the new location. Mia would finally be with her sister again. She hated being apart from Chaya. Texts and phone calls just didn’t cut it. And with their father here as well, they’d all be in the same place. They’d be like a family again.
She picked up the pace, in a hurry to get to Zenon and tell him her good news. Her mate had been a little cagey this morning, the look on his face one she had trouble working out. He’d been extremely affectionate as well, even more than normal, which meant he’d barely let her out the door, and there’d been this…energy buzzing around him, an excitement that was infectious.
He was up to something. She just had no idea what.
When she walked into their apartment she heard murmured voices coming from the living room, Zenon and someone else. She shut the door, walked in, and pulled up short.
Zenon was laying on a fold out table and a guy she’d never seen before, his entire body covered in tattoos, was bend over, a tattoo gun in his hand, working on her mate’s stomach.
Zenon turned to her, a sheepish look in his face. “You’re back early.”
Mia crossed her arms. “What’s going on?”
The guy working on Zenon straightened. “All done.”
Mia had become more in sync with her powers lately, with who she was, and as a result the blinders had well and truly come off. She instantly recognized the male in their apartment as a Hell hound. He wiped down Zenon’s stomach then quickly packed up.
Mia stayed where she was as the guy gave Zenon a fist bump then after dipping his chin to her, walked out.
She was desperate to go and see what he’d had done, but he was holding his shirt in front of him, right over the spot his slave markings had been.
“Does that surly brother of yours know you had a Hell hound in the compound?” she said instead of asking what she desperately wanted to know.
Zenon gave her a little grin that made her knees weak. She would never get enough of it, of seeing him like this, of seeing him happy.
“Yeah, as a matter of fact. Roman’s going to Chaos next,” he said.
She bit her lip and motioned to him. “So are you going to show me?”
He stood. “Come here, princess.”
When she was close, he curled his big hand around the side of her throat, sliding his thumb under her chin and tilted her head back. Then he leaned in and kissed her, soft and slow. “You made this possible, Mia. You,” he said against her lips. “I can’t even think about a life without you in it and not feel like the grounds collapsing beneath my feet.”
He stepped back and Mia’s gaze dropped to his stomach, to the right side where his slave tattoos had been, where he’d carried Helena’s mark since he was fourteen years old. Mia’s hand flew to her mouth and tears immediately filled her eyes.
“I’m free,” he said. “Because of you, I’m free from her, free from the hell she made my life. No one owns me, not anymore, Mia. I decide who I give my body and my heart to, and I chose you. I’d choose you a million times over.”
Mia dropped her hand, let it hover over the beautiful new ink on his skin. The memory of the first time she saw him, the first time she touched him, flashed through her mind and more tears streamed down her face.
“You put my name on your body,” she whispered. “And it’s…it’s…” She struggled to find the right words. Her name was written in vivid blue, and it was surrounded by light, a stylized sun shining from behind it and there were several red roses in full bloom, making sure every last bit of what lay beneath was covered.
“The blue is for your eyes,” Zenon said, voice hoarse. “The sun, for the way you make me feel, for how you pulled me from the dark and bathed me in your light and warmth, and the roses, they’re our future, full and rich and bright.”
More tears streaked down Mia’s face. She couldn’t take her eyes off it.
Zenon slid his fingers under her chin, bringing her eyes back to him. “You really like it?”
“Like it?” she whispered. “I love it. It’s beautiful. It’s…perfect.”
He kissed her again then, and she felt him smile against her lips, felt the joy inside him wash through her. She slid her hand up the side of his neck, running her fingers over the rough scars there, over his strong jaw, teasing the corner of his mouth, touching that grin with the tip of her thumb.
Finally, he lifted his head and looked down at her.
“I want one, too,” she said. “I want your name on my skin.”
He stilled. “Princess,” he rasped, with so much feeling in the word it was all he had to say.
“And for the record,” she said. “I’d choose you a million times over as well.”
Her mate’s smile widened, reaching the corners of his eyes, and it was breathtaking.
Coming next…
DEMON’S TEMPTATION
Knights of Hell, Bo
ok 3
Half demon and club owner Brent Silva lives and breathes control—in all things. He’ll never give into the constant cravings of his incubus side again. Revenge against the ancient demon who almost broke him is all that matters. Until a captivating female, hell bent on pushing him to his limits, storms into his life and makes him hunger for so much more.
Waitress Chaya Westbrook is determined to join the war against the demons hunting her kind. And if her first assignment also helps her prove to her maddening boss that she’s more than capable of giving him exactly what he needs, in and out of the bedroom, she’s all for it.
But when the heat between them becomes impossible to resist, the dark secrets of Brent’s past are revealed. Will the truth finally set him free or tear away the only female he’s ever loved?
Learn more about Demon’s Temptation
About the Author
Sherilee Gray is a kiwi girl and lives in beautiful New Zealand with her husband and their two children. When she isn't writing sexy, edgy contemporary and paranormal romance, searching for her next alpha hero on Pinterest, or fueling her voracious book addiction, she can be found dreaming of far off places with a mug of tea in one hand and a bar of Cadburys Rocky Road chocolate in the other.
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Also by Sherilee Gray
Knights of Hell
Knight’s Redemption
Knight’s Salvation
Lawless Kings:
Shattered King
Knight's Salvation (Knights of Hell Book 2) Page 23