by Grey, T. A.
She swallowed over the dry lump of cotton in her throat and put on a bright smile. “I think you're safe to be around.” Or something... Safe wasn't really an accurate word, more like dangerous.
He nodded though he didn't look pleased not to hear the details. Oh well, she so wasn't going there. She went back around the table to finish enspelling the first dagger. Her hands shook but with some concentrating she got it under control. He still stood next to the table and her eyes couldn't help but dart over him.
He'd been one-hundred percent naked in her vision, his body packed with muscle and sinew that glinted under the light. He'd made her feel something incredible, something much greater than her measly hands could do to herself in bed at night.
Now she saw him through a different light. No longer did she see a menacing beast but a possible...lover.
“You won't tell me what you saw?”
She shook her head quickly. No way in hell.
“But you're not afraid of me now?”
“No, no, I don't think so.” Well, just not in the way he thought.
His deep green eyes watched her. “Good. That's good.” He walked to the beaded partition. “Because I'm taking you out.”
Rosa gasped and then he swept out the beaded door, swooping down low to get his tall body through. She heard the shop door closing a minute later. Only after he'd left did Rosa collapse into a chair and bury her face in her hands.
What had she gotten herself into?
CHAPTER 14
Lily woke up on a choked scream. She panted, gasping in shaky breaths as she stared ahead. Recognition of her surroundings came slowly to her dazed mind. The vision had lasted longer this time, the images, though dark and blurry like she saw it through a grainy filter had been slightly more distinct. The dark man at the throne smoldered with even more dark energy, that fiery black smoke undulating around him thick like a heavy blanket.
With no sense of her surroundings, only a black void where she didn't know if she stood on land or air, he'd turned to her, faceless, only a black mass that signified a man, and held out his hand. Then out came slithery black oil that moved, twisting and bending towards her like a mutated snake until it landed against her chest, pushing and shoving its way inside her. Pain like she'd never felt in her life ate away inside her until she fell to her knees. He'd killed her. She didn't know if her vision was similar to the one Rosa had but she'd find out.
Climbing out of bed, she shuffled to the bathroom and used the facilities. Her next stop was her satchel of items from Rosa. She pulled out the drink she'd made for her pain and took a few good swigs of the stuff. It didn't taste bad, though not too good either; kind of tasted like creamy watered down herbs. She lifted up her spaghetti-strap tank and looked at her stomach. Most of the bruising had disappeared and already moving around felt a lot better.
She looked down at the bag and thought of the other special items in there she'd taken from Rosa's. She told herself not to do it, but the itching nag inside her guided her hand inside to the items. She pulled them out and used the floor as a makeshift table. She moved quickly, already the thought of getting the juice inside her making her hands shake, her eyes widen.
She had the special mixture made in less than five minutes but, shit, it felt more like an hour. Sweat dampened her brow by time she finished, her hands shook with a fine tremble. She grabbed the drink and tossed it back. A tangy burning sensation slid over her tongue and down her throat. And then a big smile crossed her face as she fell back against the floor, laughing. The empty glass dropped to the ground forgotten.
She burped softly and giggled more. With lazy movements, she came to a stand and wobbled, laughing as the floor swayed side to side. She hobbled to the dresser and pulled on a pair of jeans, high heels, and a t-shirt that she'd bought at the mall. She needed to try different tactics with the demon. Maybe some more 'conservative' clothing would do the trick.
She walked to the door and groaned as the high heels stretched her calves to unneeded levels of pain and squished her toes together. “How can women wear this stuff?” she said as she locked the door behind her. She went to the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor.
The doors dinged softly as they opened. Two guards armed to the teeth stood outside Telal's door. She eyed them but didn't see the one who'd rifle-butted her in the head.
“Hey guys, where's the macho asshole who hit me with the gun?”
The guards looked at each other; the one on the right responded. “He got canned, ma'am.”
“Canned?” She grinned as all sorts of happy thoughts floated through her. “As in fired?”
He nodded. “Yes, ma'am.”
She reached for the door handle but the guards scooted together to block her. “Do you have an appointment?”
This again? Really, Telal? “No, but if you don't open that door and let me talk to him then I'm going to go all sorts of crazy.” She narrowed her eyes on the guards. “You wouldn't believe the shit I can cause. Just let me in. I won't be but a minute.” Lie.
The guard on the left opened the door. “Hold on, let me check to see if he'll see you.” Lily peered around him but didn't see Telal in the office. The door slammed sharply in her face.
“Are you really his woman?”
She winked at the guard. “Oh yeah. He's all mine.”
The guard arched a disbelieving eyebrow. “Then why has he ordered us to keep you out?”
“Oh, he's just playing hard to get, that's all.”
The guard chuckled and the second guard came back in shaking his head. Lily rolled her eyes and pushed past him, walking as quickly as she could in her heels. Remembering what happened the last time she did this; she spun around, glaring daggers.
“If you hurt me, I'll curse you. My best friend is Rosa el Blanco.” She hid the fact that Rosa was a white witch and performing spells to hurt or harm were impossible for her. Well, almost impossible. But most people didn't know the difference.
The guards looked at each and groaned. “Just don't get us fired,” the one said and they left, quietly shutting the door behind him.
Feeling even better than she had before, Lily noted the office was empty and the door to his bedroom shut. She tugged her bottom lip between her teeth and let herself in.
Telal Demuzi sat at his desk writing. While that wasn't unusual, what he wasn't wearing was—clothes. Telal looked up quickly then went back to writing, and then his hand stopped and he slowly looked back up at her, his eyes hard.
Lily took a moment to take him all in. He glistened with drops of water from a shower. His hair shone dark like royal blue, his golden skin damp with little droplets of water on his shoulders and chest. What caught her attention though were the hoops, golden ones in each of his nipples. Her eyes followed the path down his chest. Her jaw fell at what she found. He had a tattoo that spread from under his right peck down towards his hip and back. Her body responded with a growl. She couldn't decipher the image, could only see vibrant blues and reds forming some kind of shape. Maybe an animal shape.
“I'm going to fire those guards because of you.”
“No you're not.”
Lily strode towards him. Actually she sauntered a bit, letting her hips slide side to side in the heels like they were made to do. When she reached the side of his desk she noted he wore a towel around his waist and nothing else. She could have purred at all that strong muscle and delicious skin. His pecks were defined, the stomach muscles beneath packed tight and hard to a narrow waist with hips bones sticking out.
He planted his hands on the chair and started to rise. Lily mumbled “oops” and fell across his lap. She couldn't give him a chance to move, to say anything, so she acted fast. Her arms wrapped around his neck to pull their faces close, and then she slanted her mouth and pressed her lips against his.
The temperature in the room instantly soared. Her body responded, half-aroused at the first touch. His lips were soft like satin, warm as the skin of his back t
hat she teased with her fingertips, and so much better than she'd ever thought. She knew he'd push her away, so she did all that she could in the little time she had. Her tongue dipped across his soft lips, then pushed inside to discover his taste. A moan bubbled out from deep within her chest at his decadent, sexy flavor.
She pulled back to angle the kiss in the other direction and press her lips against his again and again in soft, needy pecks. The sweetest relief came when she felt his breath stutter out from between his lips, and a hard presence push against her bottom. She was so easily wrapped up in his fresh masculine scent, his minty taste like he'd just brushed his teeth that it took everything in her not to wrap her thighs around him and force him to kiss her back.
But he never did kiss her back. Still, his erection didn't escape her notice, not in the slightest. Everything from her waist down clenched in response. She pulled back, looking him in the eyes, noting the wet sheen on his lips.
“Nice tattoo.” His eyes were hard with anger but soft around the edges with—dare she say it?—arousal. He rolled the chair back, put his hands on her hip, and shoved her off his lap. She burst out laughing. “Haven't we already done this?”
He stood, gripping the towel around his waist with a hard-knuckled grip, his erection tenting the cotton. “Yes, but obviously you didn't learn the first time.”
“Ah, but different occasions, Telal.” She pushed herself to a sitting position. “The first time I merely whispered that I wanted you to lick me from my lips to my toes and everywhere in between, especially in between.”
He scowled at her and stalked across the room to a hutch-style dresser. He pulled out clothes and threw them on the bed in angry swipes. “Don't remind me. It's not as if I forgot.”
Her smile turned wicked as she stood and stalked to him. “Do you think about it often?”
His head jerked. “Never.”
“Liar.”
She followed him to the bed to watch him dress. With an arch of a brow, she realized he'd pulled out different attire than what he usually sported. All black, sure, but nowhere in the pile of clothes were suit pants, silken shirts, and a leather belt.
“Tonight's the night isn't it? I am going with you, Telal.”
He made a sound that resembled a chuckle. “I'll tell you what, Ms. Bellum. You tell me why I should let you go and I'll think about it.” The white towel floated to the floor in a damp wad.
Lily's tongue dried up, her breasts suddenly felt too heavy for her bra. He kept his back to her, giving her an excellent view of taut, round cheeks that were made for a woman to hold...or sink her teeth into. He began dressing in swift, efficient movements that made her groan as the muscles in his back bunched and flexed with the effort.
“I, um, should go because I can help in case things go bad.” She wished she could come up with something better, but her mind had trouble forming a thought. The clenching in her belly turned tighter, hotter.
He pulled his shirt over his head. “How's that?”
“I have strong weapons, and I know some pretty good spells.” Unlike Rosa, she could cast harmful magic.
He dragged black boxer briefs up his long, hard thighs and she wanted to fall to her knees and beg him to let her touch him. “I have better weapons than you do, and your magic is a trick compared to what I can do. So unless you have anything else to add...”
“Go slower.”
He paused with his black cargo pants around his ankles and gave her a confused look. “What?”
“I said go slower. This is too good.” She couldn't hide the need etched in her voice; hopefully she hid the longing, though. Even she wasn't prepared to express that need to him.
He jerked his pants up his legs in one hard move then stalked to an empty wall on the other side of the room. A small digital lock of some kind sat on the wall. It looked completely out of place on the blank wall, but as he entered some numbers into it a soft whoosh of air sounded and a partition came out of the wall to reveal shelves of sharp, deadly looking weapons. She let out a low whistle at the sight of all that metal.
“Not bad.”
He shook his head side to side. “I make the best weapons. ‘Not bad' doesn't really cover it. Of course you'd know that if you knew fine weaponry.”
Ignoring the jab, she came up next to him to get a better look. He grabbed a pair of small throwing knives and curved long knives that could gut a man in two. The blades glinted under the bright fluorescent lighting from the partition and she had to admit the craftsmanship looked expert.
“When do we leave?”
He scoffed and closed the partition. “I leave soon. You've had your little show and fun, now leave me alone.”
She crossed her arms and glared at him. “Why do you always want to be alone? I know firsthand just how shitty it really is.”
He didn't answer her and only the sounds of his steps greeted her ears as he went about the room.
“Tell me how you knew my father.”
He looked at her, something close to surprise on his face. “You don't know?” He turned and went into the office where he studied a large map on his desk. A slow smiled curled her lips as she saw the pen she'd bought him sitting on top of it.
“No, I don't. He never said anything, to any of my sisters for that matter. Just one day he dies, then we get his will and see he's given us away.”
“The succubi do have a strict way of life.”
“Most do,” she said. “So how did you know my father?”
“We met during the war negotiations during the Great War. He was working under the newly formed Atal Warriors, and I was working with Tobius en Kulev to arrange the sealing of the rift. I was trying to help protect my people. Afterwards, he helped me to settle in.”
Lily took a seat in the chair across from his desk, genuinely curious. “Why did you help to shut out your own people?”
He laughed harshly. “Because Tobius is a lying sack of shit. The agreement was to close off the nether two realms below the shahoulin, my people. He lied and shut us all down there because his wife had been fucking some demon.”
Lily's heart went out for him. She didn't know much about the demonic people. She knew there were three different species, the magical and deadly jaheera demons like the ones that went after Chloe and Willow, the cannibalistic idummi demons, and the powerful shahoulin demons like Telal. If he had worked with Tobius then he must be important to the shahoulin people.
“Well, I can't blame her for that.”
He finished drawing a small circle on the map, and she made a mental picture of the location. Slowly, he looked up at her, his face pulling in confusion, but as she looked closer, she saw a hint of heat in them. Heat that she wanted to kick up several notches and smother herself in.
“What?”
“Let's just say we both share a common interest in wanting to fuck a demon.”
That heated look turned darker, hotter. She licked her lips and squirmed in her seat as arousal licked at her. The man could make her wet with only a look.
“One day you'll regret saying something like that to me,” he said, his deep voice turning hard, lower.
Her sex pulsed, heart pounded. When the look didn't fade, her heart kicked up its beat. Her breathing grew heavy and she wasn't going to let this moment pass. She had him almost where she wanted him.
She stood with shoulders back, breasts thrust forward and his eyes fell to them then traveled down her jean-encased legs. Her hands flattened on the shiny wooden top of his desk and she lifted a knee onto it, ready to crawl across to get to him. She kept her movements slow and steady even as nerves shot around in her stomach like a wild bullet. The heat in his eyes grew until blatant arousal shined. Her nipples responded to the look, pulling tight and hard. The connection she'd felt between them, the one he denied so readily, roared between them at an undeniable frequency.
She lifted the other knee onto his desk so she sat on there in a half-sitting, half-crawling position.
&nbs
p; His eyes traced over the spilled hair around her shoulders, teasing her breasts then landing on her mouth with a look that clearly screamed: Stop now or I will kiss you.
Lily actually paused. Being on the opposite end of the attraction threw her off, but she did want him, so much that thoughts of him had plagued her for nearly a year. So she slid her arms across the desk and followed the motion with her knees until only a few feet separated them.
She waited to see what he'd do for what felt like forever. Her breasts were heavy, aching, her sex slick and needy for something she'd only ever dreamed about. She wanted to grab his hand and put it against her breast just to feel a measure of relief. Any kind of relief.
And then he slid his chair forward. He didn't move slowly, steadily like she had, but jerked his chair forward until the armrests slammed into the polished wood. Seeing him so much closer now, she saw the lines of tension at the corner of his eyes, the hard breaths he took through his nose.
His hands came up and all she could do was watch like a wide-eyed girl as he combed his fingers into her hair. He stopped there, his big palms cupping her cheeks as his eyes looked over her face as if memorizing it. Her breath hitched, lips parted.
He pulled in closer, his eyes falling to her lips, and then in a deep, accented voice said, “I love your hair.”
She gasped, breaths turning to pants at the one nice thing he'd ever said to her. She didn't have long to bask in his words because he his hands cupped her head and tilted it to the side. Her eyes closed, she could feel the heat from his body, his hands, and she waited for the touch that was to come.
It came, but wasn't what she'd expected. Her eyes flew open. Not a kiss, but teeth, sharper than her own, sunk in to her bottom lip and tugged. Something dark and wicked inside her answered, pulled deeper, hotter feelings from inside her. She moaned as he released it, through her hazy eyelids she saw his lips retreating. She wanted so much more, his tongue thrusting in her mouth, his lips taking hers like she'd dreamed of. With a greedy little sound, she pressed her lips to his hard.
