When Hunter Meets Seeker: (An Arcane Society Novel - Paranormal Demon Romance)

by Betty Shreffler

  He lifted her onto a soft surface, what, she didn’t care. His jeans dropped to his knees, leaving black briefs. She pulled at them and his black eyes watched her possessively. When the briefs dropped, his erection sprung forward. She licked her lips, admiring the size and perfectly trimmed patch of hair around it.

  His warm hands grasped her legs, pulling her forward. She spread them, ready to take him. He leaned over her, placing his soft lips against hers, soothing the burn with his tender kiss. He took hold of his erection and found her, pushing inside of her, giving her the fire her body ached to have. His strokes were smooth, rhythmic, driving her mind and body ablaze. Her thighs clung to him as he moved in deeper, his rhythm increasing. She broke from his intoxicating kiss and arched her back as the orgasm swept through her, dancing over her body, sending her into a brief paradise.

  He continued working her slowly, rhythmically, absorbing her arousal. His eyes flashed their demon green as his muscles tightened, a low moan escaping his lips. He eyed her with dark possessive eyes. The demon green gone as though it never existed. He leaned in and kissed her roughly, passionately, his lips devouring hers. He pulled away and stared at her with what appeared as affection.

  “I think I found what you like.”

  She couldn’t help smiling at the affectionate and playful comment, especially with his hands holding her gently, giving her body much needed warmth. He pulled away from her and her body instantly ached to have him touching her again. As if he sensed it, he stepped forward, putting his hand to her face and caressing it before he leaned in and kissed her with his sweet, soft lips.

  “I’d like to see you again.”

  Her mind started to clear. She was in a dark room with only one tall lamp in the corner giving enough light for her to see she was sitting on another massage table. Around her were several more. It appeared he’d slipped her into a storage room of some sort. How convenient. She grabbed her clothes and started dressing, baffled by how easily she’d given in to sex with a guy she didn’t know. Had she really been that desperate for a man’s touch? That she’d resort to sleeping with a demon, an incubus of all demons? She turned her body away from him as she clasped her bra and put on her shirt. She noticed her slower more relaxed movements. He’d surely drained some of her energy. The thought disgusted her.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  He stepped up to her, placing a hand to her waist and turning her toward him. “Are you all right with what just happened?”

  She couldn’t look at him. “I need to get back and find my friends.”

  He dropped his hand and turned toward the door. He stopped with his hand on the knob, and looked back at her. His dark eyes studied her, softening as they stared at her. “I hope you change your mind. In case you do…” He pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to her. She took it from his hand and pocketed it without looking at it.

  He opened the door for her to step out. She walked with him in uncomfortable silence, down several halls and turns before coming to the door she and Jackson had originally entered. The metal door opened to the thumping of music and the busyness of the club and its dancers. She glanced back at Dex. His dark eyes remained locked on her as he watched her glide into the crowd of sweaty, aroused dancers. The memory of his touch swam across her skin and her stomach knotted as her own arousal tickled her.

  She moved left, then right, intentionally hiding herself among the dancers. She glanced back again to see the door closed and Dex gone. She made a direct line for the bar. The pretty blond came over and smiled.

  “A shot of peach whiskey if you have it. Make it a double.”

  She slid onto the barstool and palmed her face as the bartender whisked off to make her drink. A hand grabbed her shoulder and roughly turned her. She tensed at the masculine touch.

  “Where’ve you been? I just tried calling you.”

  She turned to see Jackson’s expression a mixture of worry and irritation. Behind him Thomas and Joe stood with equally satisfied expressions. She reached for her phone in her back pocket and her stomach knotted. Her phone was gone. She’d lost it somewhere in one of the rooms she’d been in and she wasn’t about to go back and look for it. Her night quickly went from bad to worse in a matter of seconds.

  “I lost my phone somewhere in the club.”

  The bartender set the shot on the counter. Anya grabbed it and gulped down the fiery liquid and shivered at the final bite.

  Jackson frowned at her. “You only drink whiskey when you’re upset. What happened?”

  She stood from the stool and flopped a bill from her wallet onto the bar counter. “I’d rather not talk about it. You ready to go?”

  He wrapped his arm around her and nodded.

  Dex’s stomach bunched as he watched the dirty-blond, physically fit male put his arm around Anya, the woman he’d just had incredible sex with. A possessive desire stabbed at his insides. He didn’t understand why he’d already become infatuated with her. He’d only been with her once and it usually took several times of having sex with a human before a succubus or incubus developed any kind of possessive desires for them.

  Although she didn’t seem completely human. If he had to guess, she was part demon of some sort. What kind he couldn’t put his finger on. She emanated strength and clearly his seduction didn’t affect her as well as it should have. Or maybe he was just that rusty. It’d been a while since he’d had a woman or a woman that excited him like Anya had. Correction, she excited him far more than any woman, even his ex and co-worker, Serena.

  The moment he saw her walk out of the massage room he couldn’t peel his eyes away from her. It pleased him when Ryan said they hadn’t had sex; he’d wanted her all to himself. The scent of her sexual desire had been strong. He knew she wanted him too, but he couldn’t understand the look of disgust on her face after they’d been together. She’d wanted to be with him, he was sure of it. Her body willingly took his and she gave him an extraordinary amount of vitality from her orgasm. Thankfully, enough that would last him a lengthy period of time before needing another woman in his bed.

  He glanced to his right to make sure Al and Greg were busy watching their screens. He hit a couple buttons on the keyboard. Anya appeared on the screen in the massage room with Ryan. His arousal swelled as he watched her undress and slide under the red sheet. Ryan re-entered and his possessive desire increased, worsening in intensity as he watched Ryan rub along her calf, thigh and then just below her right cheek. Relief filled him when she squirmed away from Ryan’s touch.

  Watching her turn him down at his peak of seduction raised his lips into a smile. He watched her dress after Ryan left and saw her phone drop from her jeans pocket. He clicked a button on the keyboard and the screen switched back to a view of dancers. He left the security office, headed for the massage room.

  Chapter 4

  After a hot shower, cotton shorts and a thin, strapped tank, she was nuzzled in her bed with the sound of the TV drowning out the silence of her apartment. She lay against her pillow, staring at the business card. It was black and glossy with his name imprinted on it.

  Dex Grigori – Security Specialist

  The card had the name of the club, address, and his office phone number on it. She flipped it in her fingers, remembering the events of the night. It all happened quickly in a heavy state of arousal, but she did remember how incredible he felt and how delicious his lips had been. It was as if incubi were made of candy and delectable fruit flavors, leaving you craving more. She tossed the business card onto the nightstand and grumbled as she reached for the light switch. She shouldn’t be thinking about how good he’d felt inside her when he was a demon. The very creature she was trained to hunt and kill. She turned her head and shoved it into the pillow, letting out an aggravated breath.

  Tomorrow. Tomorrow would be better. She’d start her job search and begin her first day of a normal life, leaving behind the world of hunters and demons.

  His
hot breath warmed her ear as he leaned in, taking her ear into his lips, licking it and nibbling it between his teeth. Her nipples hardened as her fist clenched the bed sheet. His hand slid gently across her stomach, lifting her shirt, caressing her belly and skimming along the rim of her shorts. His hand dipped below, finding its way to the scorching heat. He slid his fingers into her and her hips arched forward, wanting him, giving him access to more of her. She moaned as he kneaded and caressed, driving the orgasm to its peak. She moaned as it swept over her, giving her body sweet relief.

  Soft lips met hers, pulling the heat to the surface of her skin. He pulled at her lip, releasing it gently. She moaned in agony when his lips left hers. His touch evaporating, leaving her aching for more of him.

  Anya twitched as she woke from sleep. Arousal nagged her inner thighs, causing her to bury her face into the pillow and moan at the thought of Dex. Her dream of him pulled her right back to the memory of their intimacy.

  She sprung up from her bed as her eyes settled on her cell phone lying on her nightstand. She glanced at the front door, around her apartment, pulling the hidden knife from under her pillow. Her eyes settled on the open window, the thin curtains swaying in the morning breeze. Her chest tightened.

  She grabbed her cell phone and thumbed through it. She had a new text, waiting to be read. Her throat swelled and her mouth went dry. She clicked on the message.

  Thought you’d like this back. ~Dex.

  Her eyes widened in shock. It hadn’t been a dream at all. The damn demon had been in her house, her bed, touching her. Perhaps she wasn’t as immune to a demon’s tricks as she thought. He’d clearly ensured she’d remained in a sleep-like state as he intimately gave her pleasure. Arousal crept between her thighs. As much as it pissed her off, there was no denying she was incredibly turned on by his devious and uninvited visit.

  Reminding herself of her intent to live a demon-free life, she grabbed the business card and tossed it in the trash. She deleted his number from her phone, before pouring water in a bowl and adding a package of instant oatmeal to it and placing it in the microwave. She gnawed at an apple while she waited for the oatmeal to warm.

  With a ding of the microwave she was grabbing the bowl and shoving a spoon into it. Several minutes later she had her workout gear on and a gym bag full and ready to go. She set the bowl in the sink and ditched her apartment.

  She drove the few blocks to the gym. A smile rose on her face when Jackson flashed his pearly whites and waved at her. She dropped her bag on the bench, dug through it and slid on her boxing hand wraps. She joined him at the boxing bag.

  “Last night was pretty fun, right?”

  She tilted her head. “Define fun.” She took a breath and shoved her fist into the bag, then again, drifting into a rhythm.

  “You know, the VIP treatment. I owe Joe a gift of gratitude. It was a night to remember. That’s for sure.”

  Anya slammed her fist into the bag, shaking Jackson from his stance. “Remember what I told you last night?”

  “Not really, no. What’d you tell me?”

  Anya stopped punching and eyed him with disappointment. “Serena, the one who gave you a strip show and obviously gave you a happy ending. She’s a succubus demon. Feeds off your arousal and leaves you oblivious to her seduction.”

  Jackson leaned an arm against the bag. “I might remember a little of that conversation before you got handsy with Abercrombie and Fitch.”

  “I didn’t get handsy,” she snapped. “I was trying to get you to leave with me, but you were so far gone with Serena’s seduction you wouldn’t listen to me.”

  “Well where’d you go then? You were gone a lot longer than I was.”

  Anya’s shoulders dropped. She walked away from him and the boxing bag and headed for the weight bench.

  Jackson quickly closed the distance between them. “You’re avoiding the question. What happened, Awn? Did someone do something to you?”

  Anya pulled two dumbbells from the stand and sat on the bench, setting them in front of her feet.

  “No, I agreed to a massage from the pretty boy that Serena brought with her. A few minutes into that and it was enough for me. I was ready to leave and head back to the dance floor to find you and the guys. I met someone else that worked there. He was one of the security guys. We ah…”

  She fisted a dumbbell and curled.

  “You what?” Jackson pressed, grabbing a couple dumbbells for himself.

  Anya dropped the dumbbell and frowned. “We fooled around quite a bit.”

  Jackson studied her expression. “Only fooled around? That why you were drinking whiskey like you’d just committed a crime?”

  “Fine. I screwed the guy. Had mind-blowing sex with a complete stranger. Happy?”

  Jackson laughed. “A little. Now I don’t feel so bad about the piece I got.”

  “Ugh, really? A piece? Is that how you guys see us women?”

  “No, and you know I don’t, but that Serena, like you said, she’s a succubus who gets her strength from screwing guys. In my opinion, I did her a favor as much as she did me.”

  “Don’t let me catch you going back there. I mean it. If you get hooked it won’t be pretty.”

  “I got it. Now tell me about this guy that managed to work his way into your pants. He must’ve been pretty talented.”

  Anya watched Jackson’s muscles flex as he pulled the dumbbells toward his chest.

  “His name’s Dex. Like I said, he works security there. He was talking to the guy who gave me the massage when I returned to the waiting room. There was instant chemistry. He offered to escort me back out to the main floor. I don’t even know how it happened exactly. One minute we were walking, then he was kissing me, then we were in some storage room, then pants hit ankles and the rest is history.”

  “Wow, has it really been that long since you’ve had sex?”

  Anya rolled her eyes and left the bench, moving to the pull-up bar. She heard dumbbells clink on the stand behind her.

  “I’m sorry. That was a dick thing to say.”

  She pulled chin to bar and came back down. “You know what my love life is like, or lack thereof. I got caught up in the moment and yeah I was pretty aroused. It’s been a while, but that’s not the worst part.” She did another pull-up and rested her feet on the floor as Jackson stared at her expectantly. “He was an incubus demon.”

  Jackson about keeled over. “What?! You slept with a demon?”

  Her tongue clicked against her cheek. “Yeah I did and I liked it.”

  Jackson laughed. “You and I are so much alike, it’s not even funny. Should I be a good friend then and tell you to stay away from him so you don’t get addicted?”

  The corner of her mouth raised. “It doesn’t work that way for me. As a hunter I’m resistant to demon abilities.”

  “Apparently you aren’t completely.”

  “I can’t say that it happened because he’s an incubus. I was very attracted to him.”

  “Are you going to see him again?”

  “No.” Anya stretched her arms up to the pull-up bar and lifted her body to it.

  “Why? You clearly like him and you’re trying out a normal life. If you didn’t know he was a demon would you want to see him again?”

  Anya let out a deep breath and pulled up again. “Maybe.”

  “I think you would.”

  Anya dropped down. “It doesn’t matter. He’s a demon, I know he’s a demon, and if I’m trying to live a normal life I shouldn’t start by dating an incubus. I want to be demon-free. Even the word demon is starting to bug me.”

  “All right, all right. What are your plans then? Where are you going to look for jobs?”

  “I’ve been thinking where my skills would best fit. I love to work out, I can train others and I know the recipes for a lot of alcoholic beverages. So I’m thinking either applying here to the gym or any gym that has an opening or a bartender.”

  “I think either one would be a g
reat fit. You gonna talk to John after we’re done working out?”

  “Yeah, he’s usually here on Saturdays. I’m hoping he’s in need of a trainer or something, anything.”

  “Have you received any new orders?”

  “Nope, not yet.”

  “Are you really going to ignore it when it comes?”

  Anya walked back over to the boxing bag. Jackson followed. She held it steady as he buried his fists into it.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Then, do you want to go out again tonight? Maybe some beer, wings and pool?”

  “Yeah, but if we’re gonna do that we’ll need to put the extra hour in this morning.”

  Chapter 5

  Anya practically danced around her apartment getting ready. She’d spoken with the owner of Fitness Guru, the gym she and Jackson went to every morning. John was thrilled to have her join his staff. A growing membership list had him in need of a new kickboxing trainer. He’d seen enough of her skills in the gym to know she was a perfect fit. She didn’t even have to go through an excruciating interview. John hired her on the spot. She’d be teaching two classes four days a week. Energized by her new job, her first step in normalcy, had her putting in the extra effort in styling her hair in long, loose curls with added makeup.

  She glanced down at her phone on the sink counter. Thoughts of Dex slithered right in like a snake into a garden. She hissed out a breath as her body reacted instantly. Good grief, you’d think she was a human already addicted to his incubus seduction. She grabbed the phone, shoving it into her pocket. It was almost time to head to the sports bar. As she walked toward the door her phone dinged. She opened it, expecting it to be Jackson making sure she was still coming.

  Her palm grew sweaty at the message. An order from the Arcane Society.