He blew out a rough breath, dropped his head back on the bed, and stared at the ceiling. “Saia, I know I was an asshole at the party, I just didn’t want you dragged into this treacherous life of mine—”
“So you hurt me, instead? Said I was too much work?” Pain seeped into her again.
He rubbed a hand down his whiskered face, his bleary gaze lowering to hers. “I had to get you to stay away from me. So, yes, I hurt you.”
Hearing it felt like he’d punched her in the chest again. She tried to hold in her anguish, rinsed the terry cloth, then dabbed at the blood trailing down his wound.
When she didn’t look at him, he grabbed her upper arms, forcing her gaze up. “Gods, Saia, cut me a little slack.”
“You hurt me.” What he’d said had cut too deep. “I can’t help the life I was born into. If that’s what you honestly think, then you don’t really see me—”
“Don’t see you?” A humorless laugh escaped him. “I see you, Saia. I see every godsdamn thing—every facet of you. You beguile me, torment me so bad that, at times, I can’t fucking see straight. I’m demon. My soul’s dark. Yeah, I used human females to ease that darkness. Then there you were, like a ray of light getting out of that menace you drive. And all I could do was just move, breathe. I couldn’t think beyond you…”
He brushed her jaw with his thumb. “Saia, I didn’t dare take a chance and let you into my life. You saw the danger that follows me. I couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to you. I couldn’t. No matter how much I longed for you, I had to leave you alone.”
She bit her lip and stared at the wet, blood-smeared towel in her hands, so badly wanting to believe him.
A low, frustrated growl erupted, he grabbed her around the waist and flipped her onto the bed, face down.
“What are you doing?” she squeaked, her voice muffled in the sheets.
“I was trying to apologize.” He dragged her to the edge of the mattress and stripped off her underwear. Then yanked her hips up and forced her to her knees, rustling her skirts up to her waist. “I guess I’ll have to show you. I only want you. Just you.”
“Dammit, Riley, let me go.” She didn’t like the thought of her ass exposed in the air, helpless, with her face buried in the covers. Besides, he was hurt. But the glide of his warm, naked chest against her backside as his mouth pressed down on her spine sent goose bumps scattering across her flesh. His hand caressed the curve of her bottom. His lips travelled lower, then a sharp sting on her butt cheek.
“Ouch! Did you just bite me?” She scowled over her shoulder at him.
He didn’t answer, just pushed her down into the covers again and spread her knees apart.
“I’m sorry, Saia,” he murmured softly, pressing his lips on the spot he’d bitten.
Deep within her, she understood he wasn’t apologizing for the nip. The pain his words had caused at the pavilion faded with this new promise, the cracks in her battered heart healing.
Her Riley was still here. Along with this hard, stunning man, who played her body like a virtuoso. Both were merging in her mind. So how could he say the Riley she’d known didn’t exist? They were both half of the same whole.
He’d always been wicked, but now he was tender, as well.
“Do you want me, Saia?”
“Always.”
At her whispered word, a deep sigh rolled out of him. “Truth is, I don’t think I could have stayed away from you. I should have left that night, yet I remained…”
She smiled. Glad she wasn’t the only one who suffered. “I still would have given you a hard time for hurting me.”
Soft laughter. “I know.” His lips trailed down her backside. The scrape of his day-old facial hair was an erotic caress on her inner thighs as his fingers parted her. He licked around her sensitive clit, then lightly flicked her swollen bundle of nerves with his tongue, sending desire spiraling. Her mind fractured, her thoughts scattering, only aware of what he was doing to her body—aware of his fingers thrusting in and out of her. His mouth covered her clit, he pulled on her flesh with firm, powerful strokes.
Ohhhh. The bedding muted her cries as pleasure soared, hauling her over the edge.
When she could breathe again, and her heart returned to her chest, she turned her face from the covers. Damp lips brushed the curve of her backside. Saia closed her eyes and waited for him to take her. But he pulled her skirts down again.
Her eyelids flickered open. She looked over her shoulder. “Riley?”
He didn’t speak, just shook his head, jaw rigid, the tendons on his neck straining. “We have company.”
What? Hastily, she sat up, just as a brief rap on the heavy wooden door rang out.
Moments later, it opened, and Wrath strolled into the chamber.
Warily, Saia eyed this being—the Sin of Wrath—who was Riley’s father.
Python green eyes slid to her. Her heart thudded in her chest, and she struggled to calm down. But how could she?
Whenever he was around, only bad things happened.
Riley could sense Saia’s uneasiness as she pushed to her feet. With her sweet, musky taste still on his tongue, and his body strung taut with need, it drove his control to the brink. He wanted to be wrapped around his mate’s warmth, find his release with her, not face Wrath.
“What do you want?” He ignored the twinging slow-healing wound. A show of weakness wouldn’t help in this instance.
“You’ve had time to do what needed to be done.” Wrath wandered to the window, glanced outside then back at him. “Now, we have other matters to settle.”
“There’s nothing to say. I came here to save Saia. Once this heals,”—he indicated his abs where the damn iron blade had pierced him—“we’re leaving.
“There is the problem of you sending back every guard I sent to protect you.”
“Protect me?” He cut his sire a flat stare. “Do I look like I need your protection? I managed well enough for over a millennium. I need nothing from you. Not then, and certainly not now. If it’s some sudden paternal itch, find another of your offspring to subjugate with your affections. Where is your favored heir, by the way? Shouldn’t you be fawning over Ayperos?”
“You are my heir.” Wrath’s cold eyes swirled with ancient power. “Did you really think you could have killed Móric if you were not my true successor?”
Saia moved closer to him. Riley ran his hand down her back.
“You have lived far too long in the mortal world. It is time you embraced your heritage.”
“Not happening.” Warmth trailed down his belly. He reached for the discarded towel on the bed, one Saia had used. At her wary expression, he realized he didn’t want his old man around his mate. She’d suffered from enough parental manipulation. He could fight his own battles.
Knowing Wrath wouldn’t leave until he’d said his piece, Riley swiped at his injury and tossed the cloth aside. Might as well get this meeting over with. He pressed his lips to Saia’s. “I’ll be back.”
He walked out with Wrath following, and headed for the third level, his sire’s domain.
At the end of a dim corridor, Wrath entered the enormous study or the war room as Riley used to call it when he was a boy. He glanced around the place with its rugged, charcoal walls.
Amazing. No matter how much time had passed, some things remained the same.
Books cramped the floor-to-ceiling shelves. In the center stood a long table covered with numerous opened scrolls. A shadow moved beside the big-ass desk set in the tower part of the chamber. A dragon-like monster with blackish red scales rose from the floor, its head almost touching the tall, domed ceiling. A snarl rolled from its throat as it sniffed Riley.
One difference now…seemed his old man had acquired a pet. He was probably getting lonely in his old age.
“Quiet, Erogus.”
At Wrath’s low command, a hissing snort erupted, and the monster lay down again. The massive head rested on front paws tipped with lethal talons
. Its slitted black eyes watched Riley with distrust.
That makes two of us.
Riley strolled the length of the room, stopped, and picked up a book with ancient symbols scrawled across the cover. “Tell me,” he said in bored tones. “Did you toss out all your other offspring, too? Maybe you woke one morning and decide you needed an heir and drew the short stick with my name on it?”
Wrath leaned against the black desk near his pet. “I sent you to a safer sector for your own protection. There are no other progenies. As Wrath, I don’t have time for long-term liaisons, except for your mother and one other. You are my heir.”
“Right.” Riley stopped at another table at the far end of the massive room and perused the parchments and scrolls scattered on the surface. Strategic plans and attacks were detailed. The Nine Circles were certainly keeping his old man busy.
His gaze narrowed, spying a missive that seemed fairly recent. He understood the old script well enough to know what it revealed.
A crack had occurred in the Forsaken Mounts of lower Gehenna. As a young boy, he’d heard the tales. Eons ago, four mortal males, in their sheer bravery, had saved the human world from an ancient evil by absorbing the darkness into themselves to keep it contained. But their mortal bodies, unable to deal with such malevolence, were wearing down. Since they couldn’t die—for if they did, all that evil would be released—they’d taken to eternal sleep in their granite tomb instead. Seems the stories weren’t legend, but reality.
If they awoke, they would unleash hell back on Earth tenfold.
No, it wasn’t a chance Wrath would take, not when it would upset the balance between realms.
“I didn’t realize you thought otherwise,” Wrath said, distracting him. “My enemies are legion, and many attempts were made on your life when you lived here. They will try again, especially if they know I have just one direct offspring. Son, the time comes—”
“Don’t.” Tension wired his shoulders.
Did Wrath think it was that simple? That a single word would take away past humiliations? The pain? No matter what bullshit Riley shot off, bottom line was, that six-year-old boy still lived in him, hurt and alone. Hard to admit, but there it was, brought out by that single word. Son.
“We don’t have a relationship to signify your use of that word. And I’m not interested in being—”
A sudden influx of pain shot through Riley. He stumbled back, hitting the table. A rage so cold unfurled in him and exploded in his head—made him want to unleash his fury just to experience the quiet he’d had moments ago. Seconds from tearing his skin off, the rage eased, and blissful silence reigned once more.
“That,” Wrath said, his tone like granite, his usually cold gaze a flaming neon green. “Is but a part of what I am. What I live with. You are my son. On the second millennium of your existence, you will inherit a part of that—”
“No.” Riley had to unclamp his teeth to speak. Did he even get a choice? Anger swept through his psyche like a wave. “I don’t want any part of your damn legacy. Give it to the one you groomed.”
“Only direct bloodline will inherit.” Wrath nailed him a resolute stare. “You cannot escape what is.”
“That’s in two bloody weeks,” he said sharply.
“Exactly.”
Dread knotted his gut. “No. Saia needs to go back.”
“Send her back then.”
Alone? With Trevor after her? Now Ayperos was out there, too, probably searching for them. “Why did you choose to keep this a secret? That only blood will inherit?”
Wrath circled the desk to his chair and sat down. “It was better my enemies thought I had others in mind, a safety net for you. Chances are you may never have to be what I am unless I take to eternal rest. But this transference will happen. You cannot escape your destiny.”
“I’m going back. I will not leave my mate unprotected and alone.”
“It is a choice you must make. To keep the mortal world safe, be here before your second millennium day. You must be contained when it happens. Unleash your fury up there, and you will upset the balance of all that is. The archangels who watch over the human realm would not be happy.
No shit. He’d risk it.
Wrath leaned back in his seat and studied him with an inscrutable look. “One more thing. You are now responsible for the protection of your sister. Both guards were not for you alone.”
“What sister?” Riley snapped. “You just said I’m your only offspring.”
“Male, yes. Your sibling’s half human. She has no idea what she is. Her twenty-fifth year of birth approaches. The protection binding I invoked to keep her safe will fade. As my offspring, she will attract the type of attention she can never survive. I sent you to Sheol to escape my enemies’ notice. That did not turn out too well, did it?”
Riley stiffened. His old man knew about Ayperos?
Wrath nodded in confirmation at his unspoken question. “Ayperos is not your ordinary demon. He’s dangerous—will stop at nothing to get what he wants. He will not only come after you but your sister, too. I cannot leave Stygia to exact my vengeance. It would break the pact with Heaven to take the fight into the mortal world—”
“Ayperos is mine.”
Wrath inclined his head. “Good. I expected no less. I have just two offspring, and since you are immortal, I expect you to keep your sister alive.”
A decree. One he couldn’t refuse. Damn! He ran a hand over his buzzed hair. This was worse than he’d thought. Now he had to worry about another when his mate was already a target for his enemies. His gut tightened at the thought of anything happening to Saia. He had to talk to her. Explain that as his mate, she was now in Ayperos’s direct line of fire. Then there was his sister. The bastard would doubtless go after her, too.
“Who—where is she, this sister of mine?”
“Soho. You have her photo. That’s all you need. Trust your instincts. You will know when you meet her.”
Why he expected more from his sire, he had no idea.
“Why didn’t you get rid of Ayperos if you knew?” he asked then.
Wrath’s expression steeled. “He’s cunning, adept at camouflage. I would have killed the scourge, but you, it appeared, had taken a liking to him. It is better to keep your enemies close.”
Riley realized then why Wrath had not given any more info about his sister. He probably didn’t dare, not when enemies lurked in places one least expected.
Still, Riley leveled his sire an unforgiving look. “So you gave me away instead.”
“You are my heir. I cannot give you away, nor could I always be around, protecting a child. It seemed the best thing to do then.”
“Yeah, thanks for that by the way.”
“You are welcome.”
At the dry retort, Riley ground his teeth and headed for the door.
“Your mate will become stronger.”
Riley froze, his heart damn near stopping at his sire’s statement. He pivoted. “What?”
“She’s been engulfed in the claiming flames, it will enhance her. She took down a demon while still a fragile human.” For a second, his sire sounded impressed, but that had to be another illusion, like his entire life’s dream of living a quiet life. “Train her, and she will not always have to rely on you for protection, even in this realm.”
Riley’s mind latched on to one thing only. “What do you mean ‘still a fragile human?’”
“The claiming heat extended her life force, but she will remain mortal. Nonetheless, Réomer, in the unlikely event you should die, so will she.”
His heart kicked hard in happiness, then just as fast it slid to his belly in a cold lump. Oh fuck! He scrubbed a hand over his face. Saia was going to kill him. Extend her life, only to watch her family die while she lived on?
Yes, definitely.
But the bigger danger was him. Being mated to him, he’d have his enemies on his ass twenty-four-seven. Her life would constantly be at risk. At the thought of Saia gone
, his lungs shut down… Maybe he could negate the bonding.
“You would break your bonding?”
“No!” he snarled, his entire being clenched in denial as blood thundered in his ears that Wrath had given words to a passing thought. “She’s mine. I’ll keep her safe.”
Unaware he’d been pacing again, he stopped near Erogus. The monstrous lizard eyed him with unflinching eyes. “Yeah-yeah, I’m all scared.”
He turned to face his sire, who tossed him a black wooden box. Riley grasped the thing.
“What is done cannot be undone. Train her,” Wrath repeated his warning. “Tomorrow’s eve will be your consort’s presentation. The legions will pay their respects. You do not want another making a play for you or your mate like two nights ago.”
His jaw clenched at the reminder. Nor was he surprised Wrath knew about his encounter with the female who’d tried to trap him, or the male who’d come after Saia.
“Do not make the mistakes I did.” Wrath’s mouth tightened. Regret ravaged his face. It was the first time Riley had seen any emotion from his sire. It made him uneasy. “I erred in not bonding with my mate because I didn’t want her involved in this life.”
Wrath wasn’t talking about his mother, Riley realized. She’d died when he was young; too young to remember her. It had to be his sister’s mother that Wrath spoke of.
“I left her alone when the encampment was under attack. She was taken from the fortress while I was away. When I eventually found her, it was too late.” Pain edged his voice for a brief moment, then his tormented expression faded back into a cold one.
“You are Wrath’s heir. Present your mate to the legions. Let them acknowledge her and pay her the reverence due to her as your consort. Or lose her like I did mine.”
“Did you find those responsible?”
“I did.” Tone clipped. Icy. “A rebellion group who thought to weaken me through her death—none can. Some never learn. They now have eternity to reflect on their actions as they suffer the same fate as her.”
Devoured daily by wyverns.
The words ringing in his head, Riley walked out of Wrath’s den.
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