The Darkest Torment

by Gena Showalter

  Motion clipped, he spread her legs and moved between them. Again, she tensed. The position was suggestive. Too suggestive. Far too suggestive. She placed her hands on his chest to push him away, but he merely flattened his own atop hers and held firm.

  “How will you make me feel emotion?” he asked.

  Can’t think like this. “I—I’ll tell you jokes and sad stories.”

  He gave a single shake of his head. “Others have tried the same and failed.”

  “Had those others ever made you feel anything previously?”

  “No.” A grudging admission.

  “Then I already have an advantage.”

  His gaze dropped to her legs. “What if I want to feel something other than happy or sad?”

  Her mouth dried in an instant. “I don’t... I can’t...”

  “How else will you do it?” he asked. To distract her?

  Really, really can’t think right now. “You’ll just have to wait and see.” As will I.

  “If you fail, will you try what I suggest?”

  Those suggestions would be sexual, wouldn’t they? The look in his eye...

  Just have to make sure I don’t fail. “Yes,” she croaked. “I will.”

  “Very well.” He nodded, releasing her and moving to the other side of the spring. “I won’t force you to eat meat. And you...when we reach my homeland, you will make me feel something...one way or another.”

  30

  “If you hope to defeat me, you’re going to need a bigger pair of balls. Would you like to borrow a pair from my case?”

  —Thane, Sent One

  IN HIS BEDROOM, Baden stripped himself, then stripped Katarina. He tossed their soiled garments into the unlit hearth, planning to burn them later and scatter the ashes.

  “Wait!” She rushed to the clothes and dug through the pile. A moment of insanity? Understandable, considering everything that had transpired today.

  She stood, radiating relief, and strode to the bed, where she straightened the pillows.

  “The bed is fine as is.” He picked her up and carried her into the bathroom...placed her in the shower stall. Hot water sprayed and steam thickened the air. He climbed in behind her to wash the blood from her, still rocked to the core that she’d cried today.

  Rocked to the core, and torn to shreds. The beast prowled through his mind, on edge and inconsolable. They could have lost her. The way Baden’s friends had once lost him.

  And really, Baden could have lost Galen and Fox, too. Hellhounds had had the pair pinned in the kitchen, ready to attack. As exasperating as both warriors were, he’d realized he liked having them in his life.

  Thankfully, upon seeing Katarina, the hounds had backed down and joined their pack in the yard, where they had remained.

  “Everything’s going to be all right.” He cupped her cheeks, wet skin against wet skin. “The dogs are your personal army now. You’ll never be in harm’s way again.”

  “I’m not afraid,” she muttered.

  “Tell me what’s wrong, then, and I’ll fix it.” He would fix it and every other problem for the rest of her life. She was his. His to pleasure and to pamper. His to protect, right alongside the dogs. Will always protect.

  Never letting her go.

  She gazed up at him through water-beaded lashes. “I don’t want to talk right now. I want to enjoy you, to make a memory that will last forever.”

  If she wanted a memory, he would give her a memory.

  He sat on the bench, pulling her onto his lap. She straddled his thighs, the showerhead at her back. Without preamble, he thrust a finger deep inside her.

  She was ready for him. But then, desire remained on constant simmer between them.

  “I need inside you.”

  “Yes.”

  He gripped her by the waist, lifted her, and impaled her with a single thrust. No foreplay. Just raw passion.

  Crying out, she arched her hips, moving sensuously on him. He grit his teeth and forced her to wait, motionless. Sweat rolled from him, the strength he displayed superhuman. The lack of friction was agonizing, but it was an agony he willingly endured.

  “Well,” she said and nipped his bottom lip. “That is certainly interesting.”

  “You have no idea. And I’m only getting started.”

  “Mmm. I hope so.” Her eyelids lowered to half mast. She placed kisses along the line of his jaw. “I’ve never wanted you more.”

  She wanted him, not because he was a weapon to be used, but because he was a man. Her man. He had worth, not because of what he could do for her, but because of who he was to her. A truth as powerful as it was humbling.

  “You’ll get your climax.” Eventually.

  He angled his arm, two of his fingers finding her bundle of nerves. He stroked and stoked her desires. She moaned. She groaned. She breathed his name and writhed her hips in an attempt to follow his movements. When that failed, she grinded on his shaft—or tried to. He continued to hold her immobile.

  “Baden!” She beat at his shoulders. “You’re determined to kill me, yes?”

  “I am an assassin, desire my weapon.”

  “Move!”

  Her inner walls clenched his length tighter and tighter, growing hotter and hotter, wetter and wetter. Destruction wanted to give in. Baden wanted to give in. But the outcome was far too important.

  Eternity versus momentary. Eternity won.

  “I’ll move,” he vowed. “After we talk.”

  She unleashed a string of Slovak profanity.

  Destruction laughed, delighting in her temper. The beast knew, like Baden, she would never betray them.

  “Bodaj ta porantalo.” I wish you got a stroke. “Z chujem si˛e na głowy pozamieniałe´s.” You swapped heads with your own dick. “Id´z pan w chuj.” Go to the dick.

  “That’s twice you’ve mentioned my dick,” he told her. “Are you, perchance, trying to tell me you wish to give me my reward at long last? To take me down your throat?”

  “ˇCo ti jebe?” Are you insane? “You tease me now?”

  “I’m not teasing, but I am determined. You’re going to tell me what’s wrong with you. And I’m not demanding, mind you. I’m simply giving you a reason to want to tell me.”

  “Such a dirty trick.” She attempted to maneuver to her knees. When it proved unsuccessful, she leaned into the waterfall. He merely followed her, fitting his mouth around a succulent nipple and suckling, tasting her sweetness.

  The curses stopped—until he stopped.

  “Chod materi do pice.” Fuck off.

  “I will fuck you...just as soon as you give me what I want. Like for like. Nothing is free in this world.”

  She melted against him and combed her fingers through his soaking hair. “You are a diabolical fiend...but...but...oh! Please.”

  Please...yes... He suckled her nipple while once again rubbing his fingers between her legs...but when she gasped, close to falling over the edge, he forced himself to stop.

  Eternity wins.

  Destruction banged at his skull—more!—as Katarina banged her little fists into his shoulders a second time.

  “Your decision, Rina,” he prompted. His mind was so fogged with arousal, his every nerve ending shouting; he wasn’t sure where he found the strength to remain immobile. “Talk or stay just...like...this.”

  More beating before she finally gave up, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head against the hollow of his neck.

  Panting for breath, she told him, “I have the coin.”

  He stiffened. Well, he stiffened worse. “When did you find it?”

  “Today. Alek hid it inside his black heart.”

  The one place Baden hadn’t thought to look.

  “My options
are limited. Use it to free you from Hades’s rule. Save the hounds from his ire. Or become immortal and be with you. I can have one, but not all.”

  “There is no decision, krásavica. While I wear the bands, I won’t bond with you. I won’t allow you to fall under Hades’s command. So you must use the coin to become immortal, and together we will save the hounds.” He would have her always and forever.

  Creases formed in her brow. “What happens when the bands are removed?”

  “Not removed, but absorbed. I’ll become Hades’s son. A supernatural adoption. He won’t hurt what’s mine.”

  She looked hopeful, but shook her head. “I can’t trust—”

  “Trust me.” Finally Baden moved, sliding in and out of her once...twice...before stopping again. She clung to him. “Promise me.”

  Her claws scratched his back, every mark stinging. “I’ll do what I think is best.” That said, she bit his ear and then, oh, then, she turned the tables on him, whispering all the things he made her feel, telling him how deeply she ached for him, how only he could satisfy her.

  How had he ever thought this woman unsuitable for him? How had he ever thought her weak?

  Of the two of them, she was stronger. By far. She had tamed the beast. She had walked away from a bargain with Lucifer. She had won the allegiance of a hellhound pack. There was nothing she couldn’t do.

  And there was one thing Baden couldn’t do: stay still. Not any longer.

  “Rina.” He flashed her to their bed, because there, with her, was home. He pinned her underneath him, his shaft still buried hilt-deep. “Will you wrap your legs around me?”

  The moment she complied, he gripped the headboard and pulled out, farther and farther, until he almost slid free—then he slammed back in. He repeated the action again and again...moving in and out of her. My woman. Mine to pleasure.

  Every thrust of his hips was a promise. Every gasp of his name was a new tie between them. A new bond: a man and his woman...a man and his greatest treasure.

  Over the years, Baden had experienced the worst life—and death—had to offer. She had made everything better. She had made every trial, every battle, worth fighting.

  Control slipping, he pinned her hands over her head. Their fingers wove together. He slowed...slowed his thrusts...until every inward glide lasted an endless eternity, her hips lifting as high as she could get them to greet him. Sweat slicked their bodies and her nipples teased his chest, the friction delicious, like running matches over a hard surface. Flames sparked.

  He held her gaze, letting the tenderness only she elicited shine bright and true, without hindrance. “There will always be something, some reason we shouldn’t be together, but there will never be a good time to live without you. I will cherish you, Rina. I will never hurt you, not again. And I will show you the world—my world. Our world.”

  Tears welled in her eyes, wrecking him. He settled on his haunches and pulled out of her.

  Moaning, she reached for him. “Empty, come back.”

  He fell to his back and lifted her above him. When she straddled him, he leaned against the headboard and clasped his length. “Taste me. Taste your honeyed sweetness on me. See how good we are together.”

  She eyed his shaft as if he’d just presented a starving woman with a banquet. “You are naughty, but lucky, lucky you, I am, too. I’m thrilled to give you your reward.”

  Slowly she lowered her head. With her gaze locked on his, she sucked his shaft into her mouth and moved her tongue under the crown. The light scrape of her teeth had him hissing in agony...and rapture.

  “Hurt you?” she asked.

  “Only hurts when you stop.”

  “Like for like,” she said and chuckled softly when he cursed. With another suck, she took him into her mouth and slid down, down until she had him at the back of her throat.

  He cupped her nape, his fingers tangling in her hair. “Been so long since I’ve had this,” he managed to croak. “But never this good.”

  A happy purr vibrated along his length. His sac drew up tight.

  “Harder, Rina. Faster. Please.”

  She obeyed, her hand coming into play, squeezing his base as her mouth slid up and down, again and again, leaving wet and heat and aches behind.

  “Sucking me so good,” he praised. The beast purred in the back of his mind.

  Her free hand sank under him, her nails digging into his ass. Going to come...

  No. Not without her.

  Baden pinched her chin and lifted her head. She was panting, her lips swollen, red and damp.

  “Want more,” she said, wrenching free of his hold with every intention of fitting her mouth over his cock once again.

  My woman. My prize. Craves my taste. Was there anything hotter?

  “I’ll give you more.” He sat up, gripping her hips and turning her around. As he leaned against the pillows, he took her with him, dragging her hips higher and higher up his chest, leaving a path of liquid fire in her wake.

  When her sweet, honeyed core was positioned directly over his face, he rasped, “We do this together.”

  Understanding, she braced her hands outside his thighs and sucked his shaft back into her greedy mouth. At the same time, he pierced her opening with his tongue. Her teeth clenched on his shaft, pleasure racing through him.

  Urgency filled him, and passion drove him. He licked at her, sucked on her. The sweetest candy, the finest wine.

  “Baden.” Tremors in her voice. “I’m close.”

  “Hold on, Rina. I’m not done with you.” Will never be done.

  She set upon his length in a maddened frenzy, every motion hard and dirty. He wanted to last, wanted this—her—forever, but in seconds, she pushed him over the edge of satisfaction. As he jetted into her mouth, roaring his satisfaction, he pierced her core with two fingers and pressed his tongue against her swollen little core. When he sucked, hard, her scream of pleasure filled the room. They shattered and shuddered together.

  When he was tapped out, she licked him lazily, as if she couldn’t get enough. He picked her up and fit her against his side. His heart had yet to slow. Content in every way. He doubted he would ever recover from this.

  A soft snore rose from Destruction, drawing a laugh from Baden.

  “Ashlyn told me how she and Maddox got together,” Katarina said, tracing her fingertip over his chest. “I know how all your friends got together with their women, actually.”

  Baden gently smoothed a lock of hair behind her ear. “What are you trying to tell me?”

  “Well, at the center of every story, there’s one thing in common. They sacrificed something for each other.”

  He’d had the same thought once. Love sacrificed.

  Katarina peered up at him. “Baden...I want you to know... I love you. I really do.”

  He went still, the ability to breathe abandoning him. He’d once thought he and Katarina had no real foundation. Which, he realized now, was absurd. She was his foundation. His only foundation. “Krásavica—”

  But she wasn’t done. “I’m not sure how it happened or even when. All I know is that it should have been impossible. My captor became my life raft.”

  “I lo—”

  “No. Don’t say anything. Let me get this out.”

  He frowned but nodded. He loved her, too. Loved her with all his heart—the very heart she’d revived from the dead. He should have realized sooner. His possessiveness. His desire to be with her. His connection to her.

  She was his light. His only hope. The way out of the darkness.

  “You are strong, intelligent and honorable,” she said. “And I’ve come to accept you will always solve problems with your fists and sometimes daggers. You have to. You’re at war. But there are some things you can’t—”

  “Kat
arina,” he said, stopping her. He cupped her cheeks, caressing her silken skin with his thumbs. “You are—”

  “Bored with this conversation? Yes.” Hades’s voice brutally murdered the tender moment. “Also, I thought a literal tit for tat was only fair. Now we’re even.”

  Destruction came awake with a jolt and a desire to slaughter.

  Baden scrambled from the bed, throwing a sheet over Katarina, who shoved her hands under the pillow she’d straightened earlier.

  He glared at the king. “You made a mistake, coming here like this.”

  “What are you going to do? Spank me? I’d probably like it. What you won’t do? Renege on our bargain. I’m ready for my conversation with the girl.”

  A loud bang erupted at the door, as if it had just been hit by a Mack truck. Bang, bang. The wood cracked and split, and two large hellhounds prowled inside the room, their gazes locked on Hades, who stared at them with shock.

  “It’s true, then,” he said, slack-jawed. “My hounds are—”

  A menacing rumble rose from the pair, all not yours, never yours.

  Hades narrowed his focus to Katarina.

  Wrapped in the bedsheet, she stood, a vision of strength and courage, unwilling to back down in the face of danger. “They are mine.”

  Hades turned his glare to Baden. “You have five minutes to dress and bring the girl to my throne room. You won’t like what happens if you’re late.”

  31

  “Baduction might be a brute, but he’s my brute.”

  —Katarina Joelle, newly minted member of the hellhounds

  KATARINA’S STOMACH FILLED with acid as she dressed in a clean T-shirt and pants, the coin clutched tightly in her fist. When the beautiful dark-haired man—Hades—had first appeared, she’d feared he’d come for it, meaning to snatch it before she could use it.

  But he hadn’t. Now she had to deal with him. She had to use the coin, which meant she had to decide what mattered most. Since Baden no longer despised his bands, she could use it to become immortal, as he wanted, so they could share a future, or she could use it to save the dogs once and for all.