by Missy Lyons
Joshua had this to hell with you smirk on his face. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
Tyler responded, “Good boy.”
Joshua didn’t answer. Just being this close to Tyler was making his sex hormones go into overdrive, and Tyler loved knowing he was off balance. Joshua was afraid of what he would say and scared to death of what he might do if he stopped thinking for even a second. They may not be a fully bonded couple having only mated once, but there was an insane amount of physical attraction he felt for Joshua, and he knew Joshua felt the same about him. The air sizzled with sexual energy. The intense attraction was there to make sure the mate-bond became strong.
“Are you surprised to see me again, Joshua?” Tyler walked around the oversized desk to be closer to his quarry and leaned nonchalantly against the edge.
Joshua’s eyes darted from the door and then back to him, as if he was judging the distance and amount of time it would take to make an escape.
“Obviously you never expected to see me again.”
“I’m sorry. I know we had some misunderstandings last night, but I need this to be on a professional level here. The academy is my life’s dream.”
“To be a cop.” Tyler was stunned, and from the look on Joshua’s face, his sarcasm betrayed him.
“Yeah,” Joshua replied sheepishly.
“You’re serious? You’d rather be fighting bad guys and avenging evil doers and all that jazz than anything else?” Tyler could think of a thousand things he would rather be doing—mostly in bed with his mate.
“It’s what I was born to do,” Joshua replied.
Tyler wanted to scream at him. Joshua was born to belong to him and serve his every sexual need. Tyler knew he felt an intense sexual attraction to him so strong it would hurt if he tried to resist it. Yet he was standing there pretending not to feel anything at all. “I could think of better things to do with our time.”
When Joshua remained silent, he went on. He moved closer to his mate, took up a hand in his, and kissed the back of it. “Things that wouldn’t involve any talking at all.”
“I can’t.” Joshua’s sharp hiss of breath betrayed his fear.
“Can’t or won’t?” Tyler asked. He had no patience for either reason.
“I don’t know. I don’t know what I want right now. I don’t even understand what happened last night.”
“What are you confused about?”
“I can’t say exactly…Did you give me drugs?”
“The short answer? No.” Tyler didn’t have to do anything to drug him but be near to him. They had this effect just being near each other. “I’m disappointed you’d think the worst of me.”
“How do I know you’d even tell me the truth?”
“I have nothing to hide from you. We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“Being here with you now—I feel safe, but last night…I don’t even want to try to remember last night.”
“Ordinarily I would be waiting to lay all my cards on the table so to speak, Joshua. You and I come from different worlds, but you can’t deny what we have together is magical.”
“Magical may not be the right word. I have never felt this way with anyone before…it’s intense.”
“It’s a unique bond we share. You and me.”
“Why? What are you?”
“Do you really want to know what I am?”
“I think that may answer a lot of my questions.”
“Questions, like what?”
“Like why you are here, for one.”
“Isn’t that obvious? I’m here for you, Joshua.”
“Why?”
“To put it simply, you are the best thing that ever happened to me, and I need you to stay in my life.”
Joshua hesitated. “When I left I thought I saw something.”
“Something?”
“Something with scales and a tail,” Joshua prompted.
“Don’t forget the horns and teeth.”
“What are you?” Joshua whispered in an awed voice.
“There is no need to be afraid of me. I would never hurt you, Joshua.”
“I didn’t ask if you would hurt me. I asked what you are.”
“I am—to put it simply—an incubus. I am a demon of the first class born to the house of Draehomon. I need sexual energy to survive, but an unfortunate side effect is that my lovers die prematurely. Everyone I take as a lover can only stay alive for a short time, except for you, my destined mate.”
“Your what?”
“You are my mate, Joshua. It is destiny that brought us together.”
“You’re not even human. Why do you have to use the illusion of this body?”
“You see what you want to see. If you want to see the real me, you can see past the veil of an illusion.”
“Let me see it.”
“Joshua, I am not sure you are ready for this.” Tyler sure as hell wasn’t ready to see him run again.
“Try me,” Joshua insisted.
Tyler dropped the illusion with a wave of his hand. Joshua’s shock was instant, and it was a heavy hand on Tyler’s heart. There is a natural desire to have his mate like and admire his physique, and Joshua being human made it more difficult to be open with him. He was torn. How far should he go to protect Joshua from the truth and from himself? If he shared too much too soon, he risked Joshua’s mind being able to handle it. He could end up in a psych ward or worse.
When a demon’s mate committed suicide, it left the demon vulnerable, and without a food source, he usually died within a few days of his mate.
“I see it, but I don’t believe it. You are real.”
“I am very real, Joshua.”
“I can’t believe I am still attracted to you, even knowing what you are.”
“You will want for nothing so long as you stay with me, Joshua. You don’t have to work. You don’t have to do anything but love me, and I will satisfy your every desire.”
“You say it like I am getting some kind of privilege to be with you. Like everything you do for me is going to be good and all fine and dandy with a little bit of hot sex thrown in for fun.” Joshua unbuttoned his shirt to display his fresh tattoo. “If you won’t ever hurt me and I can trust you so much, then tell me why did you do this to me?”
“My brand chose you. It is how I know we are destined to be together.”
“Is that what is on my chest? Is it like some kind of parasite? I can’t get it off of me.”
“As I said, it’s my brand. You carry my mark because you are my mate. It will protect you, and it will be there for you when I cannot.”
“Why are you being so cryptic?” Joshua moved restlessly.
“That’s not being cryptic. It’s the truth.”
“It’s a tattoo.” Joshua looked down at the black ink and pointed.
“Look again, Joshua. Notice the way it sleeps happily on your chest. If you touch it, you will feel his warm breath against your skin. He’s a living breathing creature, like you or me.”
“No way.” Joshua touched the black ink in amazement.
“When you are in danger, he will sense it and fight for you.”
“I can’t do this.”
“Do what? I am not asking for you to do anything.”
“I can’t do any of this. I can’t be your mate. Take it back.”
“What do you want me to take back? The night I fucked you until you begged me for more? The seed I spilled in your mouth? My mark which branded you as my mate?”
“All of it. Take all of it back. Take the tattoo thingy and everything else. I don’t want you, and I don’t want to be part of your world.”
“It’s too late for that, Joshua.” Tyler shook his head. This was not the outcome he wanted.
“No it’s not. Take it back,” Joshua insisted.
“Are you mad I took off your rose-colored glasses? Well, I’ve got news for you, buddy, another world exists beside this boring human one you grew up in, and like it or not, you’re part of
it.”
“I don’t like it.”
“I didn’t ask if you did.” Tyler wasn’t amused by the other man’s stubbornness.
“What would happen if I got it removed and just walked away?”
“As if none of this ever happened?” Tyler tried to ignore the removal part. Joshua could believe what he wanted, but he was still trying to live by human rules in a human world. It was beyond his comprehension to realize the brand could not be removed short of death.
“Yeah, then what?”
“I’d follow you.”
“It doesn’t sound like I have a whole lot of choices in this.”
Tyler didn’t understand what the big deal was. This may be new to Joshua, but there really wasn’t a choice. “The choice is simple. You’re my mate. We belong together.”
Joshua didn’t want to be left alone with him. That deeply disturbed Tyler. Where there was no trust, love could not be built. “What if I don’t want to be your mate?”
“Are you denying you’re attracted to me? Because you would be lying.”
“No. I am not attracted to you,” Joshua denied.
Playing games didn’t usually amuse him, but Tyler wouldn’t mind pressing Joshua’s buttons and some other body parts along the way. He reached around the other man and wrapped his around him, pulling him close. “So my touch doesn’t feel good to you?”
Joshua’s voice became distant and quite distracted by the Tyler’s roving hands. “Not at all.”
Tyler’s anger fed his lust. “Perhaps it’s because I’m not trying hard enough.”
Without warning his body leapt into action. Tyler attacked. In a flash, he had Joshua pressed up against the wall sandwiched between drywall and his sinewy frame. This was what his body had craved since Joshua entered the room alone with him. His body demanded satisfaction. His lips were unforgiving as he pressed his mouth against Joshua’s.
His appetite only grew as the kiss deepened.
Sex with his mate was the only thing that would assuage his voracious appetite.
Liquid heat ebbed through his veins, lighting his cells on fire.
Joshua moaned and softened against Tyler. He seemed to yield to Tyler’s demands, but things changed rapidly as soon as Tyler ended the kiss and he tried to begin undressing him. He broke free of Tyler’s hold, slipping out from under his arms.
“This is too much too soon.”
“Are you rejecting me?”
“I’m not saying no. This feels too right to be wrong, but you have to give me time to wrap my mind around this.” Joshua held his hand to his temple.
“Time? Is that all? You have one week to get used to the idea of being my mate, but be warned, I am not a patient man and I can’t wait much longer.” He didn’t say the words, but he would die without sex, and the only one he wanted it from was his new lover.
There was a danger in winning his mate by dominating him, but if Joshua didn’t accept Tyler as a mate soon, this ravenous hunger he felt might not be kept in check for long.
* * * *
“Just one little kiss, please, mistress?” Paul finished painting the last nail and put the cap back on the bright pink nail polish. Paul was her latest hors d’oeuvre. Until today he worked as a lifeguard at the public beach.
Soon they would have to replace him.
Paul was once young and vibrant, but after three days of loving a succubus, his skin had paled to an unnatural white and his chocolate-brown eyes looked hollow and glazed over. If she wasn’t mistaken, and she rarely was, Paul was very close to the end and couldn’t handle too much more of her touch.
Sometimes it sucked to be a succubus.
When Lilith frowned, he bent over her hand and proceeded to try to kiss the inside of her wrist.
“No.” She snatched her hand out of his clutch. It was not that she didn’t like the sexual energy of humans. They had a unique taste like a summer wine, but like a bright light, they faded and never lasted long in her bed.
Then she was stuck with their shadowy memories for a lifetime. She shuddered at the thought of yet another memory haunting her mind. It was a good reason not to kill, but it was hard when she was particularly hungry.
Why anyone would want a human as a mate was beyond her. It boggled her mind to even think Tyler could be happy with that scrawny male he brought to the fireside last night as a permanent solution to the constant hunger that plagued them. If she found out she had a human as a mate, the high council would never let her live it down. She’d be humiliated by her peers. It would be more merciful to put it, and her, out of its misery.
“But why not? Didn’t I please you?” The pathetic human begged for some more attention, looking up at her with big deer eyes.
Lilith rolled her eyes. “No, you bore me. Now go get me my suntan lotion and a towel.”
Lilith blew on her freshly painted cotton-candy-pink nails. She hated it when her nails dried with an imperfection in them. It was nearly as irritating as losing another lover.
She watched as the young man picked up her bottle, along with a folded towel, and returned it to her.
“May I help you with this?” he offered, undoing the cap to the suntan lotion and squirting a quarter-sized dab on the palm of his hand. “There are a lot of places you can’t reach.”
Lilith shrugged. It was a small thing to ask, and as long as things didn’t progress to a sexual level, he could go on his merry way after this. As much as she hated to admit it, it was time to cut Paul loose. He was too wraith-like to last much longer.
“Just hurry up.” She rolled over on the lounge chair, exposing her backside.
She felt his eyes hot on her ass. It was the fault of that little pink polka dot bikini riding up her butt crack. It was a quick fix, and she pulled it straight again before settling on her tummy.
“Smooth as silk,” he whispered as his fingers polished the cold cream slowly over her bronzed skin, starting at her feet and working his way up her freshly shaved legs. She could feel his breath on her thighs, and it was growing more ragged. He was most definitely getting turned on. He sat next to her leg. His hard rod brushed her thigh through the thin swim shorts.
“Don’t get used to it, buster.” Lilith was getting rather excited, but she couldn’t let him know that or they would be joining together for the last time.
“I’d never get used to your body. Each day would be new and exciting for me to explore a new depth to your loving.” Paul’s fingers moved to the inside of her thighs, coming awfully close to her sensitive woman parts.
“Romeo, you are naïve to think I wouldn’t bore of you before the night is through.”
“I don’t know why I am so attracted to you, Lily. You treat me horribly, and I just want you more.” He buried his head against her side.
“It’s because you want to change me, but bad girls like me don’t change our colors. We just behave badly.”
“I think you want to be good.”
“I want to be bad.” She tingled with the light brush of his hand beneath her swim suit.
She flipped back over to do this right. She couldn’t let this go on any further. “Paul, this isn’t going to work. It’s over.”
“Shh…” He put two fingers to her lips, effectively quieting her protests. “Don’t say that. How can you say that when we’re this good together.”
He kissed her. Suddenly with an edge of that dark hunger, he sought to awaken her lust and passion. She ate it up with a vengeance.
Sadly it worked. Lilith opened to the raw sexual energy emanating from him. She kissed him back, breathing in raw power. Sex. Lust. Desire and promises of more to come. It built into a storm, and then all of it hit her with the power of a lightning strike and she tasted the burnt acid of death on her tongue.
Paul died instantly.
Paul’s weight fell onto her body, and his icy memories infused her mind.
“Ugh!” Lilith shuddered involuntarily.
Lilith pushed him off her with more
force than necessary and let the magic rip through her fingertips.
A brilliant white light flashed, unleashing all her anger in a raw energy ball. It destroyed what was left of Paul’s body nearly instantly. The flames licked her skin a moment before Paul disappeared into a pile of black sand.
She hated cleaning up dead bodies.
“Stupid human! I hate weak pathetic humans like you, Paul. I didn’t even get a proper fucking to say good-bye with.” She stood up and dusted herself off. Her feet slid into her sequined sandals, and she briskly walked to the ocean to wash herself off. “Why’d you all have to go and die on me?”
A succubus had that problem with mortals. Their death was unnatural and accelerated. She was especially bad being a princess of the royal house, and her succubus blood ran strong and pure. Some of her demon friends could milk a human lover for a week or two, but not Lilith. The longest any human had lasted in her bed was three days.
Three very short days.
In the beginning of time, things could have gone differently.
Adam was a human, and he was meant to be her life mate, but when he left her for another woman, she never looked back. She saw him marry the human wretch that stole him from her and watched him die from a distance. His children populated the world, and to this day she continued to be lonely.
May the children of Adam and Eve continue to be damned to this day!
Lilith walked through the gentle waves and scooped the water up to pour over her skin. She felt eyes on her back, and she turned to find a balding middle-aged man playing in the surf with two children. Lilith didn’t so much as smile. She didn’t want to give him any encouragement.
Her next lover would be another demon. It was too bad Tyler was mated, or she would go knocking on his door. He was a generous lover and never jealous, but now that he found his mate, he wouldn’t be lured into her bed easily. If things worked out between him and that human thing, he would be off the market for at least a hundred years or so. Longer if the twat managed to convert to a full blood.
Sometimes life didn’t seem fair. Why did humans have the right to choose who to love when succubi had no such freedom? The fates laughed hard the day they dished out her curse. She had a heart, but it had been shattered when Adam spurned her. She loved him enough to give the freedom of choice, but he didn’t choose her! It was so unfair! She was destined to be forever attracted to Adam and want no one else. However, unlike most demon spawn, she was strong enough to look elsewhere for a meal, and she managed to stay alive.
