Uninvited Roommate: A Sci-fi Romance (Marnak Series Book 1)

by Layla Stone

  Guess he found her.

  10

  The male sitting in the chair looked at him as if he knew him. “Had I known that Frank was coming after your mate, I probably would have brought more guys.”

  Naff moved Adya behind him ignoring the mate comment. “Who… are you?”

  “Another Demon like yourself, trying to make a living.”

  Adya whispered behind him. “Frank was fined four hundred thousand from the Federation security. He blames you for it.”

  Which meant that Naff had two problems to figure out. First was to figure out how to kill two Demons when his lungs were filling with blood and second, was how to get to a doctor before he drowned in his own blood.

  “You want me to take him out, boss?” the gun holding Demon asked.

  The Boss shook his head, “You need to get out more. That’s Charlemagne, from The Pit. The prize fighter who hasn’t lost a fight in three years and, last night, he went up against a Krant and won – with two swollen eyes and a dislocated shoulder. Trust me, even with bullet wounds he would probably still kill you.”

  If it was any other day, he might have preened from the admiring tone. But right now, he didn’t care if the male was impressed with him or not.

  “You have… a deal for me?” Naff asked because the Demons wouldn’t still be hanging around if they didn’t.

  The unarmed male crossed his leg and smiled. “I do. Would you care to sit?”

  Naff didn’t move.

  “Charlemagne… I always thought that was an interesting fighter’s name. I’ve never heard it before.”

  Naff swayed slightly, but he hoped the talking male didn’t notice. Adya’s cold hand slipped under his shirt and only a tiny bit of cool water made its way up his spine taking away the agony, but it did nothing for his breathing.

  But even that little bit gave him the edge he needed to think.

  “Are you… going to get to…the point?” he asked.

  The unarmed male, who was doing all the talking laughed and continued on like Naff didn’t interrupt him. “You know, I’ve lost a lot of money on you. I thought for sure that Krant would win.”

  So did he, but again, Naff said nothing.

  “I don’t like your attitude. In the ring it’s fine, but right here, finding out that you’re the same arrogant nip from the ring makes me want to shoot you.” He sniffed and snorted the breath out. “But, I won’t. Not yet.”

  And here it comes…

  “Here’s my deal, Charlemagne. You retire from The Pit. I’m done losing money as I set my fighters against you. And I need you to promise never to show your face at another arena, ever again.”

  That made no sense.

  “You want me… to quit? Why… wouldn’t you… want me to fight… for you instead.”

  “Because my fighters listen to me. They know when to win and when to lose. They make me money. You… I don’t see you listening to a damn word I say.”

  Naff didn’t contradict the male, because it was all true. No one could control him. Except a certain female who belonged to him.

  “I can see the way you looked at your mate,” the Demon continued, “You’re ready to settle in. Maybe find a better job. Something where you didn’t come home with broken bones.”

  Naff didn’t say a word. He didn’t want to give away he had been thinking those things.

  “Actually, I’ve got an addition to my deal. You leave The Pit, and I’ll let you take over for Frank. You don’t have to fight anymore, and all you have to do is pay the Federation fine and collect everyone’s rent – and of course I get my cut.”

  “That’s… one hell… of a deal… but… I’m going to pass.”

  “My first deal’s the best deal you’re going to get. My second is not going to be pretty.”

  The Demon motto. Always take the first deal.

  “I take over… for Frank… I’m in… your pocket. Also… I don’t have… the money to pay…the fine. So, for me, it’s… a lose-lose… situation.”

  The Demon took in a long breath. “I didn’t realize you were so smart, Charlemagne. I’m impressed. Okay, I’ll amend my deal. You find a way to pay me five hundred thousand keleps and I will sell you this complex. It’s yours. The money will pay for the fine, and for the title changes. This place is a money suck anyway. And with your scary face I doubt anyone else will want to move in. So yeah, you buy the place from me, I don’t have to kill you. How’s that?”

  “I don’t…” Naff started and Adya stepped out from behind him.

  “I’ll pay you. I’ll pay for him, for the complex.”

  He sucked in a harsh breath with the added pain. “Steps.” It was a warning and plea in one.

  She took his hand and gave him back the cool serenity. To the Demon in charge she said, “I have the money. But you have to promise that you’ll leave us alone as soon as I transfer the keleps.”

  “Of course,” grinned the Demon.

  She dropped his hand and rushed to the couch, shoved her hand between the cushions, and pulled out her Minky pad. She asked for the Demon’s Minky identification and, with a few strokes, transferred the funds.

  When she finished, she slipped the pad in her back pocket and walked back to him, giving him that coolness that kept him conscious. “I sent a message to my doctor, too,” she whispered.

  Emotions. Nasty little bastards were crawling up his body, filling his throat.

  She… just bought the building for him. That wasn’t normal. How could she do that? Why would she do that? Seth save him from this sweet-innocent-idiot who he was going to die for.

  “It’s a pleasure doing business with you, Charlemagne. And remember, no more arenas… okay?” The Demon in charge and his last standing comrade stepped over their dead employee like he wasn’t even worth acknowledging. When the door opened Naff heard two pops from a pistol and knew that Frank was dead.

  Three bodies to clean up.

  As soon as the door shut, Adya’s father bound to his feet. “Here. Help me get him to the couch.”

  Naff shook his head, he wasn’t moving. He could barely breathe standing. Sitting would be a death sentence.

  “He’s really bad,” she whimpered to her father and Naff wanted to shake her. He would be fine.

  He had to be. Because he had to take care of her. Protect her from other Demons and from her father who wanted to mate her to some ass-hat.

  “I know, I can feel it,” her father said, giving Naff a leery look. Then even quieter he said, “You didn’t tell me you were living with a Night Demon.”

  There was a fatherly censure in that sentence.

  “Can we talk about that later? He can’t breathe!”

  No, he couldn’t. His vision was already grey at the sides, but the darkness was pulling in fast. His chest heaved, and that was the last thing he remembered.

  Seth…

  11

  Naff woke up with his head on Adya’s lap. He was on the couch, and she was reading something on her Minky pad. Her face wasn’t pinched with stress and the air didn’t smell like decay and bodily waste.

  Did she clean up the bodies?

  More importantly, what was Adya going to do now? Was she going to go home with her father? Was it wrong to threaten her with death if she tried? Damn. He knew it was going to get messy.

  “Hey,” Naff said needing her eyes and her attention.

  She jerked her face down in surprise, then smiled so big it lit up her whole face. “You’re awake, finally!”

  Finally? “What time is…” and then he didn’t finish because for once, he didn’t have to be anywhere but in his apartment.

  “It’s a little past midnight,” she said.

  “He’s up?” A male voice asked. Naff tried to sit up. He didn’t care that it was Adya’s father, Naff wanted to make sure the male didn’t think of taking her away from him. She didn’t want to go home and find a mate. She told him so – and he would hurt any male who tried to take her away.

&n
bsp; “Yeah, just now,” she said as she unhooked the tips of his horns from the couch that snagged the fabric. Once he was sitting up she said, “Naff this is my father, Harl, he’s the OneVoice for the city of Antem.”

  The OneVoice?

  Adya must have felt his confusion because she answered, “His position would be equal to Feraway’s Commander Bjorn.”

  Her father commanded an entire city?

  Naff didn’t like feeling small but knowing Baby Steps came from that kind of luxury he wanted to break something. She deserved better and he was too selfish to let her find it. Naff was going to give her all he could, but he was only a street-Demon.

  Adya’s father took the chair and pulled it up to sit near them. “How do you feel?”

  “I’m fine.”

  Adya touched the few inches of space between them and whispered, “Are you mad at me?”

  Mad at her? Was she insane? “No, I’m not mad at you. And you should know that.”

  The father cleared his throat. “We don’t like to point out feelings around non-Hettens. It’s rude.”

  Did that prick just call him… rude?

  “You know what else is rude?” Naff said. “Not saying thank you to the person who saved your life.”

  The father sat back with an odd look on his face. “No reason to be defensive, Demon.”

  Oh, there was plenty of reasons.

  Adya touched him for a second and then took her hand away as if she was afraid her father would catch her. But Naff wasn’t letting her get away with that, so he grabbed her left hand and kissed it. Brazenly, so her father saw.

  Adya’s eyes widened but her mouth was pressed together like she was holding in her smile. He could feel her delight.

  “But for you, Steps, I need to thank you and that doctor.”

  “That doctor charges up the… no need to thank him. Plus, he failed to tell me he knew where Adya was though I had been looking for her for days.”

  Naff settled and opened his legs to get comfortable. He rested their intertwined hands on his thigh. “I like this doctor guy a lot more now.”

  Harl frowned.

  “And just so you don’t get any ideas, you’re not taking Steps, and forcing her to mate.” Naff tried to sound casual, but he was serious, and it was best if he just came out and said what would not happen.

  A flare of frustration hit him in the gut. Naff turned to Adya and said, “Don’t be upset, he needs to know.”

  “And I can talk for myself.”

  “Wait,” Harl sat forward, “did you just tell her not to be upset?”

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “How did you know she was upset?”

  “I can feel it.” Because she was an empath, she leaked emotions. How did this douche not know his own daughter?

  “You can feel me?” Adya asked at the same time her father asked, “When she’s touching you or all the time?”

  “Not all the time. Yesterday I didn’t feel her until I stepped into the apartment complex. It’s how I knew something was wrong.”

  “How is that possible?” Adya asked.

  “You leak emotions.”

  Her grip tightened on his. Not hard. “No, I don’t. I can’t affect anyone without touching them with my right hand,” she lifted it up in his face to prove it. Touching him he felt a coolness for a second and then she released him. And yet he was still feeling her anxiousness.

  “You shouldn’t be able to feel anything but what I give you. It’s one of my…” and she whispered, “deformities.”

  “He would be able to… if he was your mate,” said her father quietly.

  Both he and Adya turned to the male.

  “What?” Naff said.

  The father looked at his knee and then back up. “If you can feel her emotions, and you’re not a Hetten… then,” he waved his hand between them, “she’s mated you.”

  With his free hand, Naff rubbed his mouth not sure if he could speak. He felt her worry as he hesitated.

  Jerking his chin towards the door he told Harl, “Step outside for a minute. You don’t need to be here while your daughter and I have a talk.”

  Holding up his hands, Harl said, “I’ll do one better, I’ll come back in a few months to visit. I’ve got a feeling my daughter is in good hands.”

  Embarrassment, worry, doubt, happiness and a little sprinkle of lust showered over him as Harl left the apartment. Adya was definitely doing something to him. Making him nauseous with all those… “Steps, you shouldn’t feel that much. Pick one or two emotions and cut the rest off.”

  Adya pulled her hand back and slapped him on the arm. “Having the ability to feel complex emotions is not bad. Most people can do it.”

  Pulling her to sit on his lap he had to get serious. “You mated me? Or was that an accident?” Because this was the most important question.

  “I didn’t do it on purpose, not really. I have been pretty infatuated with you from the second I met you. But when I saw you hurt, I lost it. I think that’s when it happened.”

  That was good, that was better than good. His female, his Baby Steps, was his. More than just in a Demon way of taking what he wanted, but in a mated way, where she was never, ever going to leave him.

  That was what almost made him lose his breath. That last thought.

  She would never leave him.

  Looking at him with soft eyes as if she knew the tender way he felt right then, she pressed her forehead to his.

  He clutched her neck and pulled her mouth down on his. Adya’s body gave in.

  Her taste was sweet and sizzled in his mouth. Deepening the kiss, she opened up.

  He growled. He wanted to rip off her pants and open his – then thrust inside, but damn it if he didn’t want to ravish.

  “Bed or couch?” he asked.

  “Bed.”

  On the bed, his mouth covered hers and devoured. Taking all she had and demanding more. She moaned and scratched his back, but he wasn’t ready to move on. Not yet. He needed to go slow.

  With one hand he ripped her shirt, exposing her bra. Grabbing that, he pulled it to the side, leaned down and took a hard nipple into his mouth. He sucked and licked and nipped.

  Her back bowed and she gasped. He felt her need and her pleasure.

  Naff liked that, liked that he did that to her. Made her feel that good. With a free hand he moved a thumb back and forth on the outside of her pants above her lower lips.

  Her thighs widened. Another hard suck on her nipple and she sucked in a breath as if she had been holding it. “Yes… yes.”

  Adya moved him back and tugged off her shirt. He helped remove her pants and felt the pressure between his legs, the need to speed things up.

  No. He needed to slow them down.

  And ravish.

  “Eyes on me, Steps,” he demanded slipping a finger through her folds.

  Her brown eyes grabbed his and held. And he watched her as his fingers moved and teased. He used her eyes and their connection to tell him if she liked what he was doing. When he saw her start to close her eyes, he knew she was close.

  “Eyes on me,” he said firmly.

  He could tell by the pucker of her brows and the way her hips moved that she was close and then… he felt the quiver as pleasure washed over her beautiful face, consuming her like she was falling in an ocean of stars. The pleasure was real, raw and prickled his skin.

  Naff wanted her, wanted to feel that pleasure wash over him– but he needed to go slow. Draw it out, because when he drew deep, he couldn’t promise he would last long.

  His dick was hard, full and aching to be touched.

  Pushing her thighs open Naff saw her bite her lip. Traveling down her thighs she asked, “I don’t know if I can finish again. But I want to feel you. Please come inside me.”

  He felt his smile as he moved lower. She wasn’t used to being ravished. That satisfied him. Which mean that as of this moment, he was the best she ever had.

  Taking her in his mout
h he took his time to feel her, listen to her, and move over her. He gave every part of her sex attention and consumed all the extra slick honey from her sheath. Finally, he took in her bud, licked and sucked, making her scream.

  This orgasm was different, white hot and the prickles on his skin turned to little bites.

  Adya came hard quivering over his mouth and calling his name. He relented when her slender hands slid around his neck and pulled him up for a kiss. “Please, now.”

  Naff dislodged her hands to take off his shirt. Once it was off, he felt her cold little fingers all over him.

  His own sex was hard, pulsating and ready to release. When he got his pants off and lined up, he apologized. “This may be quick the first time.”

  “I don’t care, I just want you inside me.”

  Naff, moved in slowly because she was tight. So tight. But he settled his mind on waiting at least a minute and pushed inside in a single thrust.

  Adya’s mouth opened and he heard a cry.

  He cursed and forced himself to stay still.

  Her nails dug into his back. “So good, keep going, so good – you feel so good.” And surprise, surprise… she came again, squeezing his rod like a vice. He sucked in air to quell the need to ride it out. It was too soon, and he wanted to be in her for longer.

  Her pleasure rolled over him and he knew he was going to finish too fast. He could not fight it.

  Thrusting hard with no regard to thought, he pounded in, solid and steady. A cold hand at his back ripped him open with desire like never before and he came in that instant.

  Hot seed gushed into her over and over, good Seth, he wasn’t going to stop. Adya came, sucking him deeper, orgasming over and over again – flooded her until he was empty and weak.

  Wrecked and mad with ecstasy, he leaned down, opened his mouth and bit down on her shoulder.

  And his mate came one last time, taking him under a blanket of blackness. He couldn’t think of anything, smell anything, feel anything but her.

  Mate. He knew it and felt it in his chest.

  There was a fluid peace that burrowed deep inside his soul. He knew it without knowing. A mate… for him. Someone who would never leave and never disappear.