He lost track of time as he ate and drank, watching the bustling square. Another group of demons passed him, their blue-grey horns marking them as from the Seventh Realm this time. Their eyes flickered to his horns and they spoke with each other in hushed tones.
The temptation to hide his horns rushed through him again, not because he didn’t want these males to know who he was, but because he feared that somehow word that he was a king might reach Suki. He didn’t want her to know. Not yet.
He knew he couldn’t keep it a secret from her forever, but he needed to keep it a secret from her for now.
Guilt writhed in his stomach, a voice at the back of his mind hissing that he was lying to her, and that if she was what he thought she was, it was an unstable foundation for their relationship going forwards.
It wasn’t a lie. It was a simple omission of all the facts.
She hadn’t asked him directly what he did. She had offered suggestions as to his occupation, but he didn’t recall her ever asking him to tell her what he did.
He set aside the bones of the pork, drank the last of his brew, and licked his fingers clean before crossing his legs and leaning his elbow on his bent knee. He watched the world go by, picking out people to follow and study, enjoying the festivities as the crowd grew louder and music began to play.
Everywhere he looked, it was colourful and vibrant, the people varied, their clothing all different to each other. It was a world away from his kingdom, where everything was black and sombre, and all he saw each day were demons.
It seemed like a dream, and gods, that made him realise how deeply he resented his brother.
He had never wanted to be king.
Edyn had promised him several times in their years together that it would never happen, that he was safe from the throne, the most recent time being the night he had argued with his older brother about the truce, speaking out against it.
Edyn had assured him that he would never have to take the throne, because the truce would mean an end to the fighting in their kingdom and therefore the king would no longer be in danger.
And then Edyn had let his guard down and gotten himself killed.
Tegan rubbed his right horn, agitated now as he recalled that night, how his entire world had shattered on storming into Edyn’s bedroom and finding him bleeding out, beyond saving.
His gut clenched, familiar guilt stirring in it. He shouldn’t resent his brother, but gods, he couldn’t stop himself from being angry whenever he thought about Edyn. He was sure that resentment over the crown being placed on his head would have faded over the centuries if the method of Edyn’s death hadn’t propelled the court advisers into placing Tegan under strict guard and shutting down his ability to go anywhere without their consent.
Now that he was free of their rule, reclaiming his independence, would the anger he felt towards Edyn lessen, allowing his heart to heal?
He chuckled mirthlessly as it dawned on him that the one most able to answer that question for him was Edyn.
Edyn had been a sage king, and a good brother. How many times had he talked Tegan out of a mood, or convinced him that going to war over something trivial wasn’t the way to do things? Ryker had always stoked the fire in Tegan. Edyn had always quenched it.
If he had ever needed Edyn’s advice, it was now.
About Suki.
He was sure his brother would be able to tell straight away whether she was his true fated mate or not.
He scanned the crowd, his senses reaching out, seeking her familiar scent in case she was in the square, enjoying the celebration like the hundreds of people who moved from stall to stall, stood in groups and drank, or were enjoying the music.
It all fascinated him. He tried to take it all in, but so much was happening that it was impossible. Overwhelming. The last time he had come to this fae town, it had been far smaller and much bleaker, a place where fae and immortals had gathered to hide from the human world, lurking in the shadows to avoid discovery and persecution.
Now, it was alive, bustling with activity and all manner of species, filled with traders and families, and travellers. It was incredible.
He could see why Suki had chosen to live in such a place.
He had made his private floors in his castle comfortable, adding colour where he could and small luxuries, but he couldn’t replicate this.
The earth and rock in his kingdom were black, the trees the darkest shade of green, matching what little grass there was. All the buildings had been constructed of the obsidian stone quarried from the mountains and his castle was an imposing fortress, one designed to strike fear and doubt into any invading forces.
Compared with the hotchpotch buildings in the fae town, and the colourful roofs and canopies of the witches’ district, it was bleak and grim.
The clothes his people wore were black, with accents of white and some gold for the noble demons. The clothes these people wore, the clothes Suki wore, were a rainbow in comparison. A maelstrom of colours and styles, adding to the individuality of the people who wore them.
His mind conjured an image of Suki, no difficult feat since he couldn’t get her out of his thoughts. He pictured her colourful ocean-like hair and her dazzling eyes, and her bright risqué clothes that hugged and revealed her curves.
What would she make of his world after living in this one?
Would it look like a dark, grim and forbidding place to her?
A place where she wouldn’t want to live?
He looked around him, taking in his surroundings, and wanted to growl as something hit him and had his mood faltering.
After living in such a vibrant place, Suki would never want to live in his world.
CHAPTER 12
Suki ignored the catcalls of the men outside the succubus house as she headed towards the road that cut down past one of the shifter compounds, a high-walled affair in black stone that suited the panther pride on the other side. Growls and snarls came from within. The usual.
She wasn’t sure there was a time of day or night when the panthers were quiet. They were always brawling over something. Sometimes, living in a house sandwiched between a panther pride and a werewolf pack was tiring. She was surprised she managed to get a wink of sleep most nights.
Especially the nights the vampires who lived on the western side of the town, beyond the werewolf pack’s mansion, decided to stroll past the succubus house to reach the town square. They did it on purpose. The vampires seemed to think the werewolves were on their turf.
Stupid considering the werewolf pack had moved in shortly after her family had according to the clan’s history books, and the vampires hadn’t built their first dwelling until a century after that.
Of course, vampires were never in the wrong. She had met enough of their kind to know that.
A few more men called out to her and she scowled as one of them devoured her with his gaze. She hadn’t exactly dressed for attention today. After putting up with several rounds of her sisters playing ‘why Suki sucks’, she had thrown on an old dark purple leather corset that covered her from hip to over her breasts and a black pleated skirt that reached mid-way down her thigh and revealed nothing, not even a hint of her dull black shorts she wore beneath, coupled with a pair of knee-high thick-soled violet leather boots. She hadn’t even done her make-up and her hair had only been finger-combed to death, was still a mess in places where she had dozed on it during her morning nap.
Good gods, what a delicious nap it had been.
Her guard had completely dropped because of it and she had walked right into a group of her sisters as they returned from hunting, and all of them had let rip, detailing how they had seduced several men each to feed the clan and asking what she had been doing to provide for her family, and why it looked as if she had been holed up in the house just sleeping while the rest of them were busy working.
If she could feed in a dream, she would have fed well on the one she’d had of Tegan.
Her sisters were
right though, and she wasn’t doing anything to strengthen her family. She was sucking energy from it like a parasite, just as they had accused.
But soon she would pour energy into it. She just needed to figure a few things out first.
She shoved Tegan back out of her head, but it didn’t stop fire from sweeping through her, devastating her ability to concentrate. She was meant to be finding out more about shadowed males before she dared see him again, but at the rate she was going, she wasn’t going to last more than a few hours before the constant craving she felt for him had her searching for a way to get in touch with him.
It had taken him several days to call last time and he was busy. She doubted she would see him before the weekend, which meant she had time to focus on discovering more about shadowed males.
If they turned out to be as dangerous as everyone at the clan made them out to be, well, she wasn’t sure which path she would take. She still wanted to fit in at the clan, and he was the best way of making that happen. Was she willing to take the necessary risks though?
Would it be worth it?
Some part of her screamed that the risk would be worth it if she could see him again.
She silenced that part, because she feared what it meant.
She tilted her face up to the ceiling of the cavern as she walked, let her eyes drift half-closed and breathed deep, attempting to push him from her mind and the other rebellious and confusing parts of her.
She savoured the smells coming from the direction of the square, filling the rest of the town with the aroma of meat, booze and sweets.
Sometimes, Suki wished she could taste sweets. Every time a celebration was held in the town, she roamed the stalls that sold confectionary and cakes, delighting in all the colours and shapes, and the smells. Oh gods, the smells!
Two years ago, she had convinced one of her non-succubus friends, Julianna, to taste as many of the confections as possible and describe them. The witch had taken to it with gusto, ending up with a stomach-ache she had said had been worth it and a diet that had lasted weeks to shed the pounds she had gained in that one day. Since then, they met up at every celebration, spending it chatting as Julianna ate her way through the stalls.
Suki loved the town’s celebrations because of it.
Spending time with Julianna was something she badly needed right now, and not just because her sisters were driving her mad again, constantly quizzing her about the man she had called Solid Eleven.
Tegan.
He was the reason she needed to meet with Julianna, was hoping that the witch was in town given the celebration was run by her kind.
Julianna knew a lot about the world, far more than just witchcraft related things. They had talked about the history of some species, mostly whichever species was leading the event they were attending. Her friend had told her all about nymphs, had spun fascinating tales about the sirens, and had filled her head with stories of the shifters.
The witch even knew about incubi.
She was hoping Julianna knew just as much about succubi and could tell her something about shadowed males like the one she had been trying not to think about all night and all day.
She pushed through the crowd to break into the busy square, tiptoed and tried to spot her friend.
Keeping her mind off Tegan was proving impossible, but she was going to manage it.
Her gaze caught on something to the right of her and she froze.
It was the most arresting, alluring and bizarrely attractive sight she had ever beheld.
No, it wasn’t the hot naked perfection of an amazingly cut and carved male body.
But a burly demon sitting on the edge of the raised path that led off to her right, his head bent and thoughtful black gaze locked on the open book he held in the hand resting against his black-leather-clad knee. His muscles flexed beneath his tight black shirt as he turned a page and crossed his legs at the knee, bringing the book closer to his face and almost kicking an unfortunate passer-by in the shoulder with his heavy black boot.
The man glared at him, but he didn’t notice.
A hank of the demon’s black hair fell down to caress his brow and a strange and startling reaction swept through her, had her hand twitching at her side.
She ached to sweep it back.
Suki lingered, doing her best to blend into the crowd and the shadows so she could observe him unnoticed. She had never really had a chance to watch him like this, when he was unaware of her. She wanted to see how he behaved when she wasn’t around, was sure she could learn more about him if she could deny the urge to go to him.
His left hand lifted. He ploughed his fingers through his hair, brushing it back, and preened his horns.
Horns!
Good gods, they looked hot on him.
She stared, mouth gaping open as her eyes widened, mind growing hazy as her body heated.
They were black, and incredibly smooth for a demon’s horns. Had they been polished?
Something glinted and she squinted, trying to make out what had reflected the light as he had lifted his head slightly, a furrow forming between his black eyebrows as his lips pursed thoughtfully. Something gold? She wasn’t sure.
She tracked the shape of his horns, from where they started above his pointed ears, to the curve that swept down and the sharp tips near his temples. Normally, a demon’s horns ended at the lobes of their ears when they were calm. Was he aroused or angry?
Her mouth dried out as a need built inside her, one she had to fight to deny and even then, she felt as if she might lose the battle. She wanted to close the distance between them and stroke her fingers down his horns to know if they were as smooth as they appeared, and whether it would affect him.
She had heard that demons liked having their horns touched.
Would it make him horny?
She grinned at that. Horny.
Suki lazily soaked up the sight of him as he turned the page, his black gaze scanning it. Heck, he was delicious. Her odd demon. He was so engrossed in his book, was seemingly oblivious to all the attention he was getting.
Her eyebrows pinched and dipped.
Attention from a lot of women.
That had her moving at a clipped pace towards him, pressing through the crowd whenever it closed in front of her, attempting to hinder her.
He stilled halfway through turning the page.
His nostrils flared and his head lifted, his black gaze locking straight on her to send an electric thrill bolting through her veins.
He had scented her.
The thought he already recognised her scent had fire rushing through her, turning her blood molten as she felt a little giddy. She chastised herself. She shouldn’t be feeling anything close to that, she knew that deep in her heart, but for some reason he deeply affected her, far deeper than any man before him had.
He was dangerous, the tales of men with shadowed auras was right about that, but she just couldn’t keep away from him.
There was something magnetic about him. It drew her to him and she was powerless to resist, found herself drifting towards him even though she wasn’t aware she was moving, was only aware of him as he stared deep into her eyes, his beginning to brighten with that entrancing corona of purple.
“What are you doing here?” Was that her voice shaking like a mortal teen talking to her first crush in one of those awful made-for-TV movies her sisters watched?
“I came to see you.” He lowered his book to rest on his knee and straightened, looking down at her as she stood on the cobbles below him.
He had?
“You came to see me?” She couldn’t quite bring herself to believe it.
No man had ever come to see her before. Another first for her.
He nodded, his expression sober, showing her that he meant it. “You said you lived in this town. I thought I might surprise you.”
He had certainly managed that.
“How long have you been here?” She glanced at the discarded paper
plate and pewter tankard beside him and her eyes widened at the remnants of his food. That was a lot of bones. “Did you eat half a pig?”
“Pig?” He frowned at the bones. “Pork. I ate a pork.”
She stifled a giggle, covering her hand with her mouth, and shivered when he scowled at her, hot from head to toe in a heartbeat. Heavens, he looked too damned handsome when he glared at her.
“You ate a pig.” She gestured to the plate. “Pork is the meat that comes from a pig.”
“A pig.” He nodded, as if filing that word away.
She had forgotten there was a lot he didn’t know about this world, although she had expected him to know what a pig was.
“Didn’t visit many farms the last time you were here in the mortal world, huh?” She poked his knee, causing it to sway to his left, and wished she had chosen to walk up the steps that led to the six-foot-high path he was sitting on so she could sit beside him.
She felt tiny standing on the cobbles, didn’t reach anywhere close to the height of the wall he was sitting on let alone his head.
“No.” He looked down at the drop and then at her. He held his right hand out to her. When she didn’t take it, he murmured, “You look as if you want a lift.”
“I could just go around.” She did want a lift, but the fact he could see it in her unsettled her for some reason.
Was she being too unguarded around him or could he just read her like the open book balanced on his knee?
Going around seemed the safer option.
He didn’t give her a chance to move. He leaned towards her as she went to tuck her hair behind her ear, caught hold of her wrist and pulled her up as if she weighed nothing, lifting her high into the air to settle her beside him on the wall.
Damn, he was strong.
His gaze raked over her as she smoothed the pleats of her black skirt over her thighs to avoid flashing her panties at the crowd as they glanced her way, her fingers shaking as heat rolled through her.
Seduced by a Demon King Page 14
