WiredinSin

by Lea Barrymire

  “Why don’t you sit and I’ll grab some wine for us. Or I have beer?” His voice was still shaky but she could tell that he’d finally gotten over the shock. She turned to find him watching her with a guarded look on his face. It was time that she laid her cards on the table. But first, a little liquid courage was a good idea.

  “A beer would be great, actually. Thank you.” She smiled at the flash of surprise. “Yes, I know, I don’t strike anyone as a beer drinker.”

  “No, that’s fine. Let me grab those.” He waved at his sofas. “Sit anywhere you’d like.”

  She watched him round the bar. Just seeing him in his natural environment made her smile. He’s not a creature to study, Vic. She snorted then coughed lightly to cover the sound. No, he definitely wasn’t, but she liked seeing him move with grace and purpose. He moved smoothly, like a shifter but without the prowling, predatory stalk. She wondered if he’d move like that while making love. If he’d lose control or if he’d remain reserved until the moment of his orgasm.

  The popping of beer caps brought her from her thoughts. Strolling to one of the couches gave her a moment to look around the room again. She sat slowly, savoring the feel of leather and soft cushions wrapping around her bottom. Pulling her jean-clad legs up and tucking them under her ass had her snuggled into the corner of the sofa when Dominick came back into the living room.

  “So what are you doing here, Victoria?” He handed her a frosty beer before sitting on the other end of the sofa. “Don’t take that wrong. I’m extremely happy to see you here, but I’m confused and concerned.”

  She wrapped both hands around the icy bottle in hopes that the cold would help to slow her racing heart and allow her to get all the words out before she became too self-conscious. She stared at her hands and tried to start at the beginning. “I’ve decided that I need to embrace my supernatural side. I’ve been fighting it, you see. I’ve always hated the demon inside me, tried to bury my feelings, construct emotional barriers so that I didn’t have to face what I’d become. But in doing so I was trying to stay human. I tried for years to pretend that if I just worked hard enough at it I could go back, become what I once was. I’ve hated being what I am. Parasite. Leech. Sexual deviant.” She sighed but continued. “When I was turned, I attacked a man in the hospital. I’d just woken and the slight lust that oozed off him was enough to make my demon come to life. I killed him. Sucked him dry right there in my room. From that day I’ve been terrified of what I’ve become. I’ve killed a few more—too many. I started looking for ways to feed without sex right away.”

  She looked up to gauge his thoughts and found only interest. It helped and she went on. “I found a brothel that would let me rent a room without becoming a service-girl. I would sit in that room night after night, absorbing what energy I could from the men that visited the females on either side of me. Then after a while I started working for the woman who ran it. I did whatever she needed. Errands, laundry, bookkeeping. A few years of working in the office got me a better room and the opportunity to buy the business from her.

  “For years I ran the brothel, making sure enough clients came to the building that I could feed from their energy each night. When I really needed actual touch I had the pick of males that came to us. I took in more and more females who didn’t want to have sex to feed. As those numbers climbed I started thinking about the phone sex business.” She stopped talking after she realized she’d been rambling. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I’ve avoided my succubus side as much as possible, convinced I’d harm anyone that got close to me. I’ve had few friends since turning and fewer males whom I allowed to spend any amount of time near me.”

  She looked up again and straight into his concerned eyes. She cringed at the understanding there, but she continued while their gazes were linked. “I sensed you that day in the boardroom. Knew that my mate was close, and it terrified me. I don’t know how to date, how to have a relationship, how to keep from abusing you. I was young when I was turned and didn’t have much experience then. If you want to take this further than sex, I’m begging that you have patience with me, because I really have no idea how. And isn’t that the sad part? Casual sex is normal for me. Emotional attachment scares the shit out of me.”

  Lighter. She definitely felt emotionally lighter. Maybe all those talk show people weren’t wrong. It did feel better to offload some of her baggage, even if it terrified the one man who she thought she could get close to. But if he was going to be around her, date her, then he needed to know how messed in the head she was. Dating. What a weird concept for an immortal succubus to date someone. They fed. They fucked. They didn’t date. She was no normal succubus, though, and dating sounded exciting—and scary, but mostly exciting. If he was still interested after all that verbal spewage.

  She waited, watching him watch her. Perhaps she’d said too much too soon. She ran her hands through her hair. “So, that’s it.”

  “You want to date me?” His voice sounded strained. She whipped her eyes back to his. His face was shuttered but something burned in his gaze. Something that made her belly clench.

  “Yes, and more.”

  “No more phone sex for us, right? Are you going to keep working? I mean, I know you have to work, but I’m a jealous ass.”

  “Dominick. I’m not working the phones anymore. I did the paperwork today to hand all of my clients over to other girls. I’m doing nothing but running the business now.” She grinned as happiness spread across his aura. “I’d kill anyone who decided to flirt with you and couldn’t expect anything less from you, now could I?”

  “So, you really want to try this? I’m floored. I can’t believe you’re here.” He muttered the last under his breath and she wanted to hug him.

  “I really want to try this. We do need to talk about my demon though. There may not be any ‘trying’ once she breaks out. She loves the flavor of your energy, craves you, and isn’t going to be happy with taking things slow.” Victoria fought the urge to blush and barely kept her cheeks from pinking. “I talked to one of the Elders. My demon is going to want to come out and play, and mark you. Already she’s pressing against my control and if we have sex I’m pretty sure you’re going to have a winged demon on your hands.”

  “Can you let her out before we’re in the middle of it?”

  “You want to see my demon? Really?”

  “Victoria. You’re my mate. The only reason I’m not jumping you right now is because I’m terrified you’ll run screaming from me. I want to know all of you, all sides—good, bad, demon. All of it. I’m not afraid. I’ve done research as well and know that if your demon sees me as her mate then I’m in absolutely no danger.”

  “But she’s so ugly.” The whispered words pulled a snarl from her demon side and a gasp from Dominick.

  “How can you say that? She’s not separate from you. I’ve seen succubus demons before. She’s you. Don’t you see it that way?”

  “No. But in all honesty, I’m starting to at least like her in the back of my mind.”

  “Let’s do this. How about you let her out to meet me? We’ll work on your thoughts about your demon side later, but I’m seriously curious to see what you’ll look like with wings.”

  Let out the demon on purpose? Was he fucking nuts? She’d only morphed a few times since being changed and all of those times had been when it had overpowered her control. Something close to pain stirred in the depths of the black place in her mind. That deep pit that Vic had always deemed her demon’s lair. What the hell did it have to be pained about? Didn’t she feed every fucking day so it stayed closed off down there? Didn’t she ensure that it couldn’t harm anyone?

  The weak voice she’d heard more of recently piped up, infiltrating her thoughts. You’ve hidden her. If you’d let her merge with you she’d help you and not fight. Did she dare to chance Dominick’s wellbeing with her first try at bringing her demon self out on purpose? The Elder had pro
mised that she wouldn’t harm him if he was her mate, but did she trust that statement?

  “Come on, Victoria. You have to start trusting someone other than yourself. Trust me. You won’t harm me in either form. Bring her out. You can put this concern of yours to bed in one simple step.”

  She chewed her bottom lip in frustration and indecision. She could feel the plea from her other half rumbling away in the back of her mind. Fine. But, if you hurt him you’ll never come out again.

  “You will defend yourself from her if she attacks you. I won’t bring her forward if I think that you’d let me harm you.”

  “You have my word, Victoria, that I won’t let you hurt me.”

  “Fine.” She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. Fine. “Here goes.”

  Anticipation filled her mind as Victoria loosened her grip on her demon. Please don’t hurt him, she begged the entity as her mind slowly shifted from the human thought pattern to that of her succubus. Smells and sounds became sharper. Her skin tingled with the change and her back ached as her wings materialized. Gods help her if something happened to him with this trial by fire.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Dominick watched one of the most fascinating things he’d ever seen, all the while holding his breath. He wasn’t usually superstitious, not in the traditional sense, but he would have crossed his fingers, thrown salt over his shoulder and collected a pocket full of four-leaf clovers in an instant if it would guarantee that she’d stay. Victoria stood in his living room, eyes screwed shut, arms and legs trembling and the beginnings of demon skin showing. His entire day—no, life—had changed moments before and he was still reeling. His mind kept tripping over the same thought. She’s in my home.

  The unfurling of burgundy leathery wings halted the incessant roundabout of his thoughts. Victoria’s shirt shredded and fell to the floor in halves at the same moment her batlike wings spread. She hadn’t grown much taller, but her wings made her look impressively large. The stretched at least six feet on each side of her. He marveled at the magic that allowed her to have those massive flesh-and-bone appendages without actually carrying them in her human form. What magnificence she hid.

  A growl rumbled in her chest, drawing his eye to her now-naked breasts. Even in her demon form she was gorgeous. Round and heavy like the Greek goddesses, nipples tight from the cooler air and begging to be touched. His hands twitched with the need to feel their weight in his palm. Would her skin be soft like brushed suede or slightly rougher? Though her skin was now an inhuman color she still looked mostly the same. Brilliant violet eyes glowed from under mahogany lids. Her lips curled back from slightly pointed teeth in a grimace and she started to turn from him.

  “Don’t hide from me.” His voice held a hint of a plea, but he wanted her to trust him with this. “You are beautiful. Let me look at you, please.”

  She growled but remained facing him. A black forked tongue snaked from between her lips and wetted them. “I don’t like feeling this way.”

  Her voice surprised him. He’d expected gravelly, deeper, something darker. Instead her voice was warm velvet. Its silky texture wound around his spine and stroked his cock like an invisible hand. He closed his eyes and groaned. This was what men felt when facing a true succubus. No wonder so many walked willingly into the arms of a demon, even if it promised death. He tried to keep his knees from giving out as they so wanted to do. He felt an all-encompassing desire to crash to the floor and crawl to her in supplication. To prostrate himself in front of her, taste her skin and marvel in her perfection. All from six simple words. Should he beg her to continue talking or beg her to keep her words?

  “See, you turn from me. I knew sharing this form, this hideousness, was the wrong thing to do. No one should have to see this. It will take me a few moments to transform back then I will leave you.” She curled into herself and once again started to turn from him.

  “No. Wait. I’m sorry. Can’t you taste my need in the air? Your voice, Vic. Your words draw me to within a breath of an orgasm, which would not only be embarrassing but unfortunate, because I would be standing here, not even touching you, while spewing into my jeans.” He chuckled and watched her dark skin darken further. “You blush? I’d be the one coming in my pants like a teen.”

  The low chuckle that reverberated in the air between them was enough to have him falling back onto the couch. He groaned and closed his eyes in an attempt to fight off the impending release. And how sad are you? Brought to a screaming orgasm by nothing but your mate’s voice. “Oh gods. The sound is like you’ve stroked my cock right through my jeans. Give me a minute.”

  No point in hiding how she was affecting him. When he could force his eyes open he crooked a finger at her and grinned when she hesitantly stepped forward, folding her wings around and behind her like a living cloak. He wanted to just look at her, but he knew she was already self-conscious. How to prove that this form didn’t cause him any issues? How to show her that no matter what she looked like, he was hers?

  Dominick stood when she was within arm’s reach of the couch. Her hands still clung tightly to her legs, but he could touch most of her. Now just to have her allow him that. He slowly wrapped his hands around her shoulders, feeling the tension under his fingertips and the heat rolling off her skin. He reeled her in to his body, slowly pulling her into his embrace. He sighed when she rested her head against his shoulder. “Not so bad, right? I’m pretty good at hugging and cuddling.”

  A wisp of breath feathered over his heated cheek and he felt an involuntary thrust of his hips against hers. He really was going to make a fool of himself. He sighed. He had Victoria in his arms, though, and the ability to make a potion that would bring him back to working order quickly if he went off prematurely. That thought and the pulsing heat in his shaft pulled a sharp laugh from him. He felt her jerk in his arms and he scrambled to explain. “I was just running through the ingredients I’ll need for the spell that’ll bring me enough recovery time to not embarrass myself. I haven’t had to make that in years and I was hoping I had everything here.”

  Victoria fought the internal struggle to attack Dominick. Not attack. She sighed. The mental debate between herself and her demon had taken a huge jump forward since she’d taken on her other form. You want to feast upon him while fucking him. That’s attacking. She ignored the snort of irritation that answered her thought and tried to focus on what he was saying. It took every ounce of willpower not to pounce on him when he admitted to being so close to coming.

  You can taste his desire, why do you fight it? He wants you. Feed. He’s our mate. She swallowed the growl that threatened to rumble around in her head. Now that she was connected to her succubus side, she wanted to gag her. Of course she could taste his lust. It coated her tongue and skin in a delicious layer of power. She wanted to roll around in it like a puppy with a toy and suck it so far into her body that she could taste him for weeks. She wasn’t going to indulge in that kind of thing, though, demon or not. If he responded this way to nothing but her true voice, how would he respond to her pheromones?

  She realized that he’d asked her something and she’d been so caught up inside her head that she hadn’t heard him. Chagrined, she pulled her head away from his shoulder and quirked an eyebrow. It was safer than speaking.

  “I said, I wondered if you were feeding from me already because I was feeling lightheaded. It was a dumb joke on the whole ‘blood pooling in my cock’ kind of thing… And now I feel even more foolish for having to admit what I said and why.”

  She couldn’t help it. She grinned then giggled. She watched his eyes dilate before he shifted his hips against hers again. Oops. She stopped the sound as quickly as she could and sucked in a gasp. Lust shimmered off his skin as a palpable curtain of heat. Her guts twisted and a raw, molten heat worked through her body. She sucked in a quick breath and groaned as she tasted his energy.

  You win. It was the last intelligent thing she thought. With a silent roar in her mind her demon
took over, melding their thoughts and feelings together. A soul-gnawing hunger rolled through her body, almost doubling her over. She needed him, right then and there. No more messing around and fighting it. She was a succubus and was starving for his energy. She’d gone too long without feeding.

  Dark hands that didn’t look like hers yet belonged to her reached for him. His skin was hot under her hands. She skimmed both palms up his arms, feeling his muscular structure under the skin. A groan filled the air between them. At first she thought she’d made the hungry noise, but with a glance at his half-lidded eyes she knew he was just as ready.

  Stepping away from his embrace was difficult, but she knew it wouldn’t last long. Using her claws to shred her jeans was easy. Damn tomorrow. She’d worry about it later, after she was sated and didn’t have the aching need to feed off this still-clothed male.

  “Strip, Dominick.” She smiled and nodded as he hastily threw off his shirt, unveiling a wonderful chest and set of abs. His eyes never left her naked skin. His roaming gaze was a caress, heating her body to an inferno. If she could go up in flames wherever he looked, she’d have a burning pussy and a bonfire on her chest. She licked her lips and giggled at the feel of the forks tickling her skin. The sound must have been loud enough to touch his sensitive ears because he made another lust-filled sound before ripping his pants down his legs. She was glad he’d only donned lounge pants without the extra layer of underwear. Waiting would have been torture.

  The instant his clothing met the floor she was on him, her strength making it so simple to wrestle him to the floor. She carefully wrapped her hands around his wrists, pulling them effortlessly over his head. She moaned when he swept a slick tongue over a nipple. She halted her plans of a fast fuck so she could savor the feel of his mouth on her breasts. With a growl and command she directed his actions. “Lick and suck me. I’m going to ride you to oblivion, but you need to earn it.”