He still didn’t understand it. Yes, he wanted her. The kiss they’d shared had been on repeat in his head. But he’d never been this hung up on a female. And right now, Grace should be the last thing on his mind. Thinking about that female, having her entering his mind all damn day and night, didn’t make sense, and it was causing a loss of focus, of control, he couldn’t afford.
Ignoring the rage pumping through his veins at the mere thought of Oden’s filthy fucking hands on her smooth, pale skin, he extended his wings and lifted off, flying a few streets over and landing outside a tiny black shop. The place was closed, but the witch who owned it was always close by.
Many years ago, Willow had created the spell that surrounded the knights’ compound—a kind of repellent warning off human and demon alike. She helped them out occasionally, and had an extensive library and knowledge that had been passed down her line for generations.
Willow was under their protection, not that the female needed it. She was more than capable of looking after herself.
She and Chaos also fucked from time to time. No strings, no expectations. He hadn’t been to see her in a while, but it wasn’t like Willow would’ve sat around pining for him. She had several males she enjoyed on a regular basis, and that was more than fine with him.
The door of her little shop opened before he could knock.
Willow stood there, red hair wild, green eyes wide and curious. “It’s been a while,” she said.
And for the second time that night, he prepared to say four damn words he shouldn’t have to. But he was failing, had failed the demi in this city too much already. He was born, created, to protect them, by whatever means necessary. Admitting he was wrong, that he couldn’t do it alone, cut to the deepest part of him.
“I need your help.”
Grace strode through the crowd, determined not to lose the demon moving quickly ahead of her. She’d been patrolling for hours and was desperate to get her hands on her fleeing target. Even now the creature that had been released from Hell could be waking.
She didn’t know for sure if this demon had anything to do with it, but considering one of his buddies had just mauled a human male, eating the flesh off one arm to the bone, only a block from where the beast had been released instead of feeding somewhere more private, she thought he might.
It obviously didn’t want to leave his post and risked discovery when it got hungry.
The demon lost its head, and the human lost his arm, but thankfully she and Mark had saved the guy before he'd been eaten alive. Mark had taken him to the hospital for treatment, while she continued her search for the Hell beast.
Tangling with a beast was preferable to spending time with Oden. He'd accepted her brush-off after Chaos left the club about as well as you’d imagine. Cold. Angry. But the way he’d looked at her, it was like he thought she was playing some sicko cat and mouse game with him, like the wait was part of some warped foreplay.
A shudder slid down her spine. The guy seriously freaked her out. She loved Vince, she did, but no way in hell was she sleeping with that sleaze. She'd drug him next time if she had to, anything to keep his filthy hands from pawing all over her.
Every time the guy touched her, she wanted to blow chunks. Oden wasn't ugly. Of course, the creepy, murdery, psycho killer-ish vibe brought him down a whole lot of notches on the hot-o-meter. But it wasn’t just that. Her visceral reaction to the male had nothing to do with how much she loathed him. Because it wasn’t just Oden. If any male touched her, even Vince—a barely there hand to her lower back, a brush of fingers against hers when she worked the bar—her body reacted like she’d just chugged a bucket of rotten fish guts.
There could be only one reason for that. And every time she saw Chaos, it got worse.
The demon ahead veered off the pavement and crossed the street. He carried on for a few meters, then ducked into Big Fred's Pizza. Huh. She guessed he had to eat something since he didn’t get a turn to nibble on the human, but pizza?
The restaurant was bustling, and she stood at the door for several seconds, trying to spot her target. There. He'd just hit the hall that led to the bathrooms and glanced back, gaze bouncing around the busy room until it landed on her. He knew he was being tailed.
Shit.
Dodging several people, she ran through the restaurant and down the hall. There was a fire exit at the end, the door still ajar. “Dammit."
Shoving it open, she ran out after him, pulling her phone from her back pocket as she went. She hit Chaos’s number.
“Yeah.”
“Need backup. Behind Fred’s Pizza on Claymont.”
She disconnected, shoved her phone in her back pocket, and sprinted across the small, staff-only parking lot. The sound of the demon’s heavy footfalls echoed as he ran, and she dug deep, pushing harder, determined to catch him.
There was an alley ahead, leading back to the street. She’d lose him in the crowd if he got that far. She leaped as she kicked off with her right foot, propelling herself into the air, and tackled him to the ground.
They struggled, and holy shit was he strong. Grunting and growling, he muscled her onto her back and leaned over her, his lizard-like tongue snaking out, tasting the air around her face. "Hmm, you smell good enough to eat."
Rearing up, she smashed her head into his nose. The guy roared and reared back. She throat punched him, knocking him to the ground, and jumped to her feet. He rolled and she brought her boot down hard on his back, then aimed two swift kicks where she hoped his kidneys or some other vital organ should be. His howl of pain told her she'd hit something important.
Pulling her knife from the sheath in her boot, she moved in. Feet either side of his shoulders, she crouched down, fisted his hair, and wrenched his head back, before pressing her blade to his throat. “What do you know about the Hell beast, asshole,” she said, yanking his head back harder.
He hissed and struggled against her hold.
“Talk or I’ll start slicing,” she demanded.
“Fuck you,” the demon cried as one of his arms flailed at his side.
“Either you talk to me, or I’ll hand you over to the knights. I hear Lazarus gets off on making demons scream…”
Pain tore across her thigh.
She hissed, sucking in a startled breath. He’d scratched her with his claws. The stinging sensation instantly intensified, like acid burning deeper into her flesh.
"Can you feel my venom spreading, bitch?"
"What will it do?" She pressed the knife harder into his throat until black blood bubbled to the surface of his skin. She didn’t know what he was, didn’t think she’d ever encountered one of his species before.
"It's so you won’t feel my teeth sinking into your flesh. So you won't be able to scream while you watch me eat you alive. In a few minutes your whole body will be paralyzed. You'll be at my mercy."
He could be valuable, but she could feel the venom working. She didn’t have long. "My arms still work, shit for brains."
“It’s too late.” He laughed.
She slit its throat wide open but in her weakened state struggled to remove his head. It took more time than she had right then, the exertion probably spreading the venom quicker. But she couldn't leave him alive, where a human or another demon might find him and take him somewhere safe to recover.
The deed done, she fell back, curling on her side, crying out as the pain in her leg intensified. Dropping the bloody knife in her hand, she groped for her phone. She needed help. Now.
The fucker had wanted her to kill him, there was no other reason she could think that he’d tell her what was about to happen to her. Whoever ordered him to guard the beast was more terrifying than death if the knights got him to talk.
The sound of boots hitting asphalt echoed behind her.
She twisted around. Lazarus stood a few feet away, wings extended.
“You’re injured.” He crouched beside her.
She motioned to the pile of ash. “Got s
cratched. Not sure what species. Flesh eater, venomous. Paralysis before eating its victims alive.”
“Fuck.”
The asphalt thudded on the other side of her, and she didn't need to turn her head to know who it was, she could feel him. She kept her eyes trained on Lazarus. "Is there an antivenom?" She was starting to freak the hell out, could feel the poison spreading.
"What the fuck happened here?" Chaos’s rough voice moved over her and she shivered, still refusing to look at him.
“Sounds like a venious demon,” Lazarus said to his brother. “We need to stop the venom from reaching her heart.”
“What?” Grace cried, then moaned in pain.
Chaos was suddenly in her face, teeth gritted, eyes wild, big fingers wrapped around her chin, forcing her to look at him. "Where?"
Even pissed and slightly insane, the male was hot. “L-left thigh." Another wave of agony sliced through her and she screamed.
Shoving her to her side, he pulled a blade from his boot and cut through her leather jeans, exposing the scratches. "I need to cut you to get to the venom, then I can suck it out."
"You what?" She twisted her head toward Lazarus. "This is a joke, right?"
He shook his head.
Grace screamed again, this time because Chaos was slicing into the scratches in her leg, making them deeper. The knife clattered to the pavement.
Before she had a chance to catch her breath, Chaos's mouth came down on her thigh and he sucked, hard. A couple of seconds later, he twisted away and spat out the infected blood. Then he was back, lips latched on to her, sucking again.
Grace had never felt pain like it in her life. It burned like fire, searing through her veins, scorching her from the inside out. She screamed again, lost in the agony.
Lazarus held her down, while Chaos kept sucking.
She didn’t know how long they’d been at it, time seemed to stand still, but the pain finally began to subside, and before long, every deep draw…Jesus…shot pleasure-pain through her body, making her twitch and jolt, until it was no longer about her leg.
Every time he sealed his lips on her skin—she felt it between her thighs.
She grew hot and wet and a groan slipped past her lips before she could stop it. Holy shit, if he kept this up she might actually orgasm, right here on the dirty ground. She was too weak to fight it. There were worse ways to die, she supposed.
Chaos stiffened beside her, those big shoulders rising as he sucked in a deep breath, then let it out on a low growl. He could smell her; how hot she was. The sucking slowed and his tongue and lips caressed her skin. Another groan rasped from her throat.
"I'm just gonna...I'll ah… You got this?” Lazarus said to Chaos.
Chaos didn’t spare the other male a glance, just kept on sucking.
Seemingly at a loss for words, Lazarus extended his wings and shot into the sky.
Heat burned her cheeks. "Did you ah…get it all?"
One more swipe of his tongue, then he lifted his head—eyes bright with hunger and need—her blood coating his lips. She had the almost uncontrollable urge to flip him onto his back and ride him into the asphalt.
“Think so. Can you move your leg?"
She did and agony spiked though her again, like she was being cleaved in two.
Chaos cursed, gripped her thigh, and sucked hard again.
The pain kept building, so intense she could only thrash and scream.
Something snapped inside her.
Oh fuck.
Her block, it shattered completely, the walls she’d built to protect herself since she was a kid, the barrier she shored-up daily so Chaos would never find out who she was, crumbled, leaving her totally exposed, more vulnerable than she could ever remember being.
Chaos froze—then growled like a wild animal.
His weight suddenly came down heavily across her legs.
Fear exploded through her, and she gripped him, trying to push him away, to shove him off as something powerful surged through her. Her fingers dug deeper into his shoulders, and instead of pushing him away she was unable to let him go. She opened her mouth, but no sound would come out as power like nothing she’d ever felt built inside her. It kept building, pulling more power inside her.
Then she felt it, felt him. Chaos was all around her. Yes, he was on top of her, but Christ, she could feel him inside her, flowing through her veins, his heart beating behind her ribs. She couldn’t see. Her eyes were wide open, but there was only darkness and Chaos pulsing through her bloodstream.
“Stop! Fuck, Grace, you need to stop.”
Chaos’s voice echoed through the darkness. This was wrong. It was all wrong. Whatever was happening was too much, too strong. She couldn’t contain it. But it kept coming, flowing into her.
It hurt more than the venom she’d had in her blood, more than anything she’d ever experienced in her life. Terror had her clutching Chaos tighter, and she screamed in pain, in fear, trying to get whatever it was out of her.
“No!” she cried, pushing it away with everything she had.
It left her in a rush, a tsunami flowing from her, pouring out, back to where it came from.
Chaos roared, his weight suddenly gone.
Grace lay there in shock. She couldn’t move. She wiggled her toes, her fingers. Not paralyzed. Drained. Every bit of energy had been drained from her. She cracked her eyelids, turning when she heard a scraping sound.
Chaos was picking himself up off the ground, the brick wall behind him crumbled. He rose, wide shoulders covered in dust, and then his eyes came to her.
Black, his eyes, every part, was black as night. “What did you do to me?” he said, voice inhuman, blended with his inner demon.
She shook her head, scared out of her mind. But not of him, of whatever she’d just done. “That’s never…I don’t know what…”
He strode over and she struggled to sit, to scramble back, but she couldn’t move. She was too dizzy, her limbs too weak and shaky to get her feet under her.
“Were you ever going to tell me?” he said, blinking down at her with those terrifying yet beautiful, black-as-night eyes. “Were you ever going to let me feel it?”
There was no point pretending she didn’t know what he was talking about. Her block had collapsed. He knew all her secrets. She shook her head.
He sucked in a breath. "Fuck."
She curled her lip. “Y-yeah, you could say that."
He took a step back and ran his hands over his shaved head. “Fuck.” His gaze flickered, deep brown, then back to black “How long have you known?”
She shrugged. “Are you really so surprised?”
He didn’t respond, instead he stared at her in an unsettling way, his chest pumping with each of his harsh breaths, the muscle in his jaw jumping. His beautiful dove-gray wings snapped out and instead of retreating he closed the distance between them and scooped her off the ground.
“What are you doing?”
“You think I’m letting you out of my sight now that I know the truth?” he said, all grit.
Grace watched, stunned as vicious-looking fangs grew where his canines had been, extending halfway down his chin, like his demon was trying to take over, like he was about to shift into his Kishi demon form.
But he didn’t, instead he growled low, a purring sound vibrating heavily from his chest as he dipped his head to her throat and breathed deeply, dragging his nose along her skin.
“Mine,” the demon and Chaos said together.
Oh shit. “Chaos. Just…just hang on a minute..."
He ignored her and took several deep pulls of the air with those massive gray wings, and they were in the air.
“Holy fuck.” The adrenaline rush was enough to get her moving, and she all but climbed his torso, wrapping herself around his head like a python trying to strangle the life out of him.
The rhythmic inhuman sound that came from him stunned her. He was—laughing.
“Take me down, now," she said.
His muscular arms eased her back down his body, so he could breathe...and see…and held her tight to his chest. “I won't let you fall. I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again.”
She should be freaking out. He knew who she was, what they were. But instead, at his promise, she calmed, relaxing against him. And if she wasn’t on the verge of passing out, she thought she might feel…exhilarated. She was flying through the air.
On some screwed-up level, she trusted this male, trusted that he would never intentionally hurt her, and that disturbed her more than almost being paralyzed and eaten alive by a flesh-eating demon.
She'd finally lost her mind.
Chapter 11
Grace had gone limp in Chaos’s arms a short time after she’d calmed down. For a female who liked to leap between tall buildings, her fear when he’d taken to the sky had surprised him.
And in a twisted way, pleased him.
Grace was so strong and brave, so sure all the time, he wondered if she possessed any fear at all. Without a healthy dose of it, people tended to take stupid risks.
They tended to get dead pretty quick as well.
Electricity danced over his skin as he remembered the moment when she dropped her block, when he’d felt what she'd been hiding from him. It’d been so powerful, he’d fucking collapsed.
The signs had all been there from the start, though, hadn’t they? He'd just chosen to ignore them, hadn’t believed them because he knew that there should be more. Well, he felt it now.
All of it.
Christ, the way he’d found her, prone and bleeding. She could have died, another demon could have discovered her before he got there, paralyzed and completely helpless. Clawed fingers gripped the pounding muscle behind his ribs, and he tightened his arms around her.
She groaned but didn’t wake. Chaos quickly loosened his hold, but she snuggled closer, gripping him tighter. His demon purred like a contented feline, and for the second time that night, he and his demon were one.
Knight's Dominion (Knights of Hell Book 4) Page 9
