by Sharon Kay
He sank in deeper. “You ready for all of me, baby?”
“Yes,” she whispered, arching into the new position, head up and chest pushed forward. Her sexy breasts bounced as he seated himself balls deep in her tight body.
He leaned forward to nip her ear, driven by a feeling he couldn’t explain. She was giving her body to him, begging him, and yet all he wanted was her. Craved her, even. Gods, she had no need to beg. He’d worship her body all day and night. A possessive need drove him, not just to protect, but to…keep?
Not stopping to process the out-of-nowhere thought, he growled and moved to her shoulder, biting gently. She shivered and got those adorable goosebumps again. About to tease her about that, he stopped as she wiggled her sexy ass. Impatient. She was impatient for him.
He moved back, pulling out almost all the way and slamming home. She let out a sound that started as a gasp and then changed to a purr of pleasure. She wanted him to fuck her? Good, because now that she was in his bed, in his life, he didn’t want anything else, anyone else.
He tightened his grip on her hair and began a fast rhythm, sinking into her body with powerful thrusts. His hips slapped her ass as he quickened his pace. His hand on her hip squeezed hard. Sexy and curvy. Hips he could grab on to forever.
The beautiful column of her throat was exposed in the mirror as he kept his tight hold on her hair. Her lips parted, sweet sounds escaping that were pure encouragement to his ears.
“Enza,” he growled. She was perfect.
She made a contented sound deep in her throat, and then her weight shifted. In the mirror, one of her hands went to her breasts, toying with one nipple and then the other.
Then she slinked it farther back.
“Gods, baby, you’re so fucking sexy.” He couldn’t see, but as her breathing changed, he knew her slender fingers were at her clit. Hell, nothing was sexier than a woman unafraid to take herself to orgasm, any way she wanted to. Getting to watch only spurred his lust higher.
He drove in harder, thought slipping away as his cock tunneled through her tight channel. Pleasure took over, more intense with every stroke.
She matched him, panting, moving back into him. Her naughty hand was still out of sight.
He dominated her body, holding her how he wanted, and she moved with him as she touched herself. She. Was. Perfect. Mine.
The word exploded along with his orgasm, and he let out a roar as he slammed her ruthlessly. Hot jets of come emptied from his swollen shaft, over and over, and he pumped long after he was done. Because just the simple feeling of being inside her body was pleasurable. Her tight walls gripped, creating friction even when coated with both of their releases.
She gasped and shuddered as she reached her own peak, body quaking around his. He let go of her hair and she dropped her head, laying all the way down to rest her cheek on the duvet. But they were still connected, so the new position only changed the angle of that perfect ass.
He massaged her nape and down her spine, fingers rippling over delicate bones that had bent in order to pleasure him. He kissed her lower back, then pulled out and moved forward, lying next to her.
She scooted to curl into his side, throwing her leg over him like she’d done before. “Oh my god, Rhys,” she murmured, pushing hair out of her face. “That was amazing. I don’t think I can walk.”
Alarm shot through him. “Did I hurt you?”
“No.” She laid a hand on his chest. “My legs are just total Jello. Liquefied.”
“Oh.” He chuckled. “You’ll get your strength back soon. You’re half tough-ass demon.”
“Yeah.” Her voice was thoughtful as she traced a pattern on his chest. “About that…”
He raised a brow.
“Since my power has…emerged,” she said, sitting up, “Are my other demon tendencies going to be stronger?”
“Like what? Your senses?”
“No…I mean more like with sex.” She bit her lip. “Maybe that doesn’t make any sense. Do demons have more sex than humans?”
“Not necessarily, except at our fertile times.” He laced his fingers through hers. “Why?”
“I don’t know. It’s just that I woke up tonight, and I just wanted you.”
“Sounds like you like me.”
She lightly smacked his chest. “Of course I like you.”
He grinned. “And I’m glad. But the hormones? That’s not necessarily a demon thing. And it’s perfectly okay.”
“I know, it’s just…” she paused and scrunched her nose adorably. “It was so intense. More intense than anything else I’ve ever felt. I had to have sex with you. Had to.”
As he studied her, the first thread of a fledgling thought took hold, so incredible that it stole his breath. He had felt something similar, the intensity level and also the feeling that she belonged to him
Holy shit. It couldn’t be.
Mates?
Serious eyes searched his face in perplexion. “What? I-I’ve never felt like this with anyone else. Not that there’s been much of anyone else. God, I shouldn’t have said anything, I sound like a—”
“Hey, none of that.” He sat up and laid a finger on her lips. “There is absolutely nothing wrong with anything you said or anything you feel. It’s normal.”
She tilted her head. “For supernatural creatures? To feel this intense?”
“Yeah.” He nodded, not sure if he should explain the concept of mates at this exact moment. Mating was forever, a bond breakable only by death. Would that freak her out?
“I thought maybe my demon half was manifesting more, or getting stronger, or something,” she mused.
“Your power is active now, so it could be strengthening. But remember, you’re part human. Both halves of you will balance out. You’ll never be more of one than the other.”
She drew her finger along his jaw. “Sounds so logical.”
He frowned. “Because it is.” It was a fact, like numbers and code. Logic and reason. Even when he’d been truly perplexed by Enza the night they’d met, through research he’d found a logical explanation. She was a halfling.
And now, given the intensity of their feelings, could they be meant for more? Gods, he could barely wrap his head around the concept. Maybe because he never expected it. Maybe because after Sinna, he figured he wasn’t the best judge of character.
And maybe because the mate bond didn’t follow logic. It was magic and mystical, snaring creatures who may at first seem unlikely partners, yet suddenly couldn’t live without one another. Hell, one of his fellow warriors on Torth, Scorpio, had been cursed into a bond with a witch who initially despised him.
Rhys shook his head. Logic was his thing, what he could relate to. Love and a mate? Not really…though as he looked at Enza now, he knew he didn’t want her to go back to pretending to be one hundred percent homo sapiens. He didn’t want her to find some dude and marry him, have a bunch of kids and live a standard mortal life span. She would live a human lifetime with a human partner, or a centuries-long life with a supernatural one. Halflings could end up either way.
She gazed up at him, sated, sexy, naked. Exposed, both literally and figuratively as she tried to understand his world. She was open, hiding nothing, asking questions, trusting him.
A piece of the puzzle twirled in his mind and snapped into place. He needed to reassure her of what she was feeling. What happened in his world when two individuals couldn’t live apart. He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “It’s intense for me too.”
“Being with me?” Her voice was quiet, shy, like she half expected him to say no.
“Yes. Everything about you. Since the night I met you, I wanted to find out more.”
She swallowed. “Guess you found out more than you bargained for.”
“No, bella. I think I found out exactly what I was supposed to.”
A smile lit up her face. “There you go again, saying all the right things.” She nuzzled his neck and he lay down, taking her with him.
“Like I said, it’s luck. Or maybe it’s you.”
She snuggled against him, dropping a kiss on his shoulder.
He cleared his throat. “Uh, do you know that most creatures on Torth don’t get married, like humans do, when they find their life partner?”
“No. What do they do?”
“It’s called mating. A bond forms, mentally and emotionally. The couple can sense each others emotions all the time, and project thoughts when they’re close by.”
“Like telepathy?” She propped her head on her elbow.
“Yeah. And it’s forever. The bond can only be broken by death.”
“Sounds intense.” She laid back down. “Do you need a witch to set it all up or something?”
“No, it just happens, I guess. It’s happened to a few friends. I didn’t ask for details on how it all went down.”
She let out a small giggle. “Mr. Logic and Reason didn’t ask for details?”
“No.” One word, delivered with all the weight of the guilt he still carried. This was it. He needed to tell her how he’d fucked things up before.
Against his side, he felt her go still. “Why not?”
He caressed her back, inhaled her sweet scent, and knew he was shitty at talking about this stuff. “I haven’t brought a girl home in a long time. Years. Before you.”
“Okay.” Her voice was wary, and he hated that she was worried about what he was going to say.
“Things didn’t work out very well in my last relationship.”
She raised her head again. “Rhys, you don’t have to tell me—”
“Yes I do.” He sat up. “I fucked up. Bad. And you need to know I’m not some kind of good guy, some noble warrior. I make as many mistakes as human guys do. Maybe more.”
“I never said I didn’t expect you to make mistakes.” Wide, reassuring eyes full of comfort.
Gods, she wasn’t making this any easier. “This…female. I brought her to our former home base. She slept over, hung out, got along with everyone. I trusted her to be here when I wasn’t here. She was really tech savvy.” He shook his head. “Turned out that was the one thing we had in common.”
Enza watched him, waiting.
“Anyway, she got into my files. Hacked them. I didn’t know. She gave information to an enemy and a mission was compromised. Watchers were hurt. Brenin needed a healer to survive. And it was my fault. I let her in.”
“Rhys, she spied on you. You couldn’t have known. Or anticipated that kind of betrayal.”
“Yeah well, Arawn thought I should have known better. I was demoted to the equivalent of desk jobs for a while. And I have never brought a female into our home…until now.”
She sat up and wrapped her arms around him. “It wasn’t your fault. There are bad people in the world, and you don’t have a crystal ball. You can’t go around second guessing everything in life.”
“Maybe it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I let down my team and my commander.” He tucked her close, drawing in her sweetness. “That’s a hard lump to swallow.”
She stroked his bicep. “I’m not a soldier so I can only empathize. But you were disciplined for a time and then it was done, right? You’re back to your regular job.”
“Well, yeah.” He frowned. “You make it sound so simple.”
“Maybe it is. Brenin has recovered. And other people who were injured? They’re better?”
“Yeah.”
“You can’t go through life beating yourself up about the same thing. If everyone else has moved on and sees it as a thing in the past, then maybe you can too. Because otherwise, you’re only holding yourself back.”
Honesty poured through her words and it smashed through the barriers of his resistance. Now she was the one making logic out of a messed up knot of emotion. And he knew she didn’t find any fault in him. That came through like a broadcast from her mind to his.
“Sounds so logical.” A grin tugged at his mouth as he echoed her words.
“Because it is.” She cupped his jaw with both hands. “I can hear the regret in your voice. Don’t do this to yourself.” She leaned in and placed a quick kiss to his lips. “I hope I never meet that woman. I might not play nice.”
He laughed and pulled her in for a deeper kiss. His sweet and sexy half demon had a strength in her that she may have yet to realize, and sass to go along with it.
He didn’t know how he’d gotten lucky enough to find her, but he knew one thing for certain.
He was never letting her go.
CHAPTER 31
AN HOUR AND A HALF later, after a leisurely shower where he was surprised they didn’t use up all the hot water, Rhys led Enza down through the house to the garage. This time he wouldn’t leave her even for thirty minutes. They climbed into the Escalade and drove along the quiet streets, where the faintest tinge of light rose determinedly in the east. The western sky was still cloaked in charcoal gray—as dark as the city ever got.
“It’s like there are two different sides to the city,” Enza murmured as she stared at the avenues devoid of pedestrians. “Night and day. Literally. Your world and the human world. They exist in the same space… but half the population has no idea.”
He covered her thigh with his hand. “Yeah, but after a while it merges. It doesn’t seem like a different world anymore. We just take care of different things at different times.”
“I guess.” She shrugged. “Guess it will take me a little bit longer. Right now it feels like I have a foot in both worlds.”
He gave her leg, clad in slim fitting khakis, a squeeze. “I’m right here with you, bella.”
“I know.” She leaned across the console and kissed his cheek, then peered outside. “Oh my gosh, a spot right in front!” She pointed to the open parking space. “That’s rare.”
He grinned. “Not so hard to find at the crack of dawn.”
They parked and Enza let them into the quiet store. “Meena will be here soon. She’s a morning person. Otherwise I would have said bring the camera stuff now.”
Yeah, they hadn’t gotten to that last night, a fact that irritated Rhys. But his little woman had needed rest, and he’d been loath to leave her. “I’ll set them all up tonight.” He followed her back to the kitchen, her domain, which she had managed to make fun and inviting even though it was clearly more industrial than homey.
She moved through her space like a queen, flipping on lights and ovens, taking out ingredients and two refrigerated trays of croissants. Utter confidence born of habit, damn good skill, and a work ethic more people should emulate.
“Sit anywhere you want.” She washed her hands. “I might talk to myself as I work, just warning you. Oh, guess what?”
“I can’t imagine.” He winked.
“It’s Thursday, my mom’s day off. She’ll be here at some point, so you’ll get to meet her.” Her delight was contagious.
“I can’t wait,” he said with one hundred percent honesty. He already had mad respect for the woman who had raised her baby girl alone, and helped her grow into the caring, smart, strong female that was his Enza.
“Any word from the guys?” She glanced up as she tied a black and white checked apron on, concern in her voice.
He sat at the long work table and pulled out his phone. A quick check of his texts showed a new one had just come through from Brenin. Found Rain She’s safe. Scared. We’re talking to her now.
“They found her,” Rhys murmured to Enza, then typed: Where are you?
Brenin: Her place. She wasn’t out at the bars last night, so it took longer to find her.
“Oh thank goodness. Is she all right?” Enza asked.
“Yeah. They’re all with her.” He typed back to Brenin, Keep me posted. I’m at JG with E.
Enza sighed. “That makes me feel better. A little, anyway. I still feel sick for Cara.”
“I know, baby. Hopefully Rain can help shed light on what’s going on.”
Enza squared her shoulders and no
dded, then got out a set of large bowls. “Work helps me stay centered,” she explained.
He winked and refocused on his phone, scrolling through city news feeds until his phone buzzed with a call from Brenin. Rhys hit the green accept button. “Yeah?”
“She and Cara were with the two Deserati the night before. Met them in a bar on the North Side. They all went back to the girls’ place.” Footsteps echoed through the line, as if he were pacing. “Here’s the weird thing. It seems Cara has a special trick she can do, to levitate small objects. She was doing it in the bar, showing off to some human guys that they started out with. And our two new friends saw her.”
“Levitation?” Rhys frowned. “Don’t see that every day.”
“Yeah. So they were interested in that. And they asked Rain if she could do anything special and when she said no, they almost left her in the street. But the girls argued that they stick together.”
“So they all went home together?” Rhys pushed up off the stool and paced to the back door.
“Yup. And in the morning, the guys took Cara through a portal.”
“Shit.” Rhys ran a hand over his hair. “Why would they want someone who could make things levitate? Or rather, why would Splinter?”
“If they’re planning a theft, she could levitate keys, papers, maybe one gold bar, I don’t know.”
“That’s fucked up.”
“Yeah.”
“Think if Rain had any extra talents, they’d have taken her too?” Fury shot up his spine at Enza’s amazing power, to which those assholes had been front and center.
“Sounds like it. Fuckers. If this is their game, no wonder they risked a daytime chase.”
“Shit. True.” He studied Enza, who frowned as she poured flour into her largest bowl. “I’m gonna stay here for Enza’s shift. Let me know what you guys are doing.”
“You got it. See ya.” Brenin ended the call.
“What happened?” Enza asked. “I heard parts of it. Cara can levitate?”
“Not herself. Small objects. Guess that’s why they took her. Rain doesn’t have any special skills so they left her here.”
