Demon’s Seduction

by Lisa Renee Jones

  “Three hundred and twenty-one,” she said softly.

  “What?” he asked, flipping a pancake onto the plate beside him and turning off the oven.

  “Nothing,” she said, realizing that now wasn’t the time to tell him. She’d basically invaded his privacy in the biggest way possible; she’d seen his entire life. She wasn’t even sure how that was possible.

  He turned around, leaned on the counter and studied her; his eyes were amber today. She loved the color—rich like cognac. His attention never left her face, but it didn’t have to. She felt her skin heating, her nipples pebbling against the T-shirt. She wanted him. Wanted him like she had never wanted a man. Wanted him to know he didn’t have to be alone ever again. And as much as modesty made her want to cross her arms over her chest, she didn’t. Neither of them spoke; the tension, the attraction, the unspoken words, between them, was heavy with demand.

  Abruptly, he turned away, grabbed the plate. “I imagine you’re starving after three days of sleeping,” he finally said.

  Her hand closed around his arm. “Thank you for saving me and for taking care of me.” Instantly, tension—rich with sexual fire—sparked between them. Red flashed in his eyes and he lowered them, blocking from her view what they both knew was there.

  She didn’t take her hand away, silently telling him she wasn’t afraid—she would not be afraid. His lashes lingered on his cheeks, dark ovals against his handsome, sculpted face. He was beautiful, not the kind of man you’d think of as the Destroyer.

  “Don’t thank me,” he said finally, fixing her in a steady stare that showed he’d found the will to shackle the beast. “Because I meant what I said, Cathy. I’m dangerous.”

  “Not to me,” she said.

  “Especially to you,” he countered.

  “Adrian was trying to mess with your head, Darius,” she whispered. “Don’t let him.”

  He went completely, utterly still. “What did you say?”

  “I remember everything,” she said. “On some level, I was awake through it all. Not awake, but aware. I remember what he said, how he threatened you. And I remember how I managed to change into this T-shirt I’m wearing. You didn’t put me in it. You were afraid to touch me. The elderly woman down the road did—Jackie. And Darius, I know why you trust Jackie.” Emotion filled her chest as she repeated what she’d seen. “I know you saved her and her husband from a demon attack forty years ago when she was pregnant with their youngest son.”

  Suddenly, he moved, picking her up and setting her in a kitchen chair and framing her body with his, his hands pressed to the arms of the chair. But he didn’t touch her. “Don’t even think about lying to me, Cathy. Not now. Now ever. What did Adrian tell you? What kind of game are you playing, and don’t deny you are. There is no way you would know about Jackie without Adrian telling you about her.” His eyes glowed bright red.

  She was shaking. Inside. Outside. All over. But still, she lifted her chin and looked at him with defiance. “You’re my mate, Darius,” she said, refusing to leave that an unspoken truth any longer. “Why would I play games with you? What purpose would that serve?”

  “Intended mate,” he corrected. “Love and trust are not givens. Mating gets you immortality and protection. For all I know, Adrian promised you that.”

  Cathy felt those words like a slap, jerking back against the chair. Trying to remind herself of all the reasons he had not to trust her, all the pain he’d experienced. But it was hard. It was so hard.

  “Tell me Cathy!” he demanded again.

  Anger and emotion went into overload. “I didn’t make any deals with Adrian, and damn it, you’d better not either!”

  “Stop lying.” His voice was rough, his eyes burned with anger. The lights above the table crackled.

  She looked at them. Ground her teeth. “Stop being a bastard!” She shoved at his chest. “Just stop.” A feeling of claustrophobia overcame her. “I need up. I need up now. Now!”

  He glared at her and then shoved off the chair. She didn’t look at him and didn’t wait for him to change his mind. Cathy darted away, running to the bedroom because it was the only other place she knew, but not to the bed. To the balcony in the corner. She needed air. She yanked the doors open and stepped onto the wooden porch, the cool morning air entering her lungs with a heavy inhalation. She clung to the railing, staring out at the water, the beautiful water that seemed to go on forever. Just as the pain in her chest did.

  A shiver raced down her spine and she whirled, aware that Darius stood behind her. She wasn’t going to hold back. Didn’t try to hide the tears streaming down her face.

  “When we were in that cavern and we joined our magic, I saw your entire life. Or maybe it was while I was in that three-day sleep. I don’t know. But I saw all of it. Every single moment. I saw how you tried to save your mother and how the demons chased her. I saw it all, Darius.” She shook her head. “No. Not just saw it. I felt every emotion. I didn’t mean to, I didn’t try. But it happened. So why…why when you are ten times more powerful than I am, could I see all those things in your life—see past the demon, past all the black magic, and see Darius Alexander the man, the mate. And all you see is someone playing games. Why can’t you see me for who I am?” Her voice cracked. “Why Darius?”

  Chapter Six

  He had seen Cathy for who she was—brave, beautiful, willing to face evil without backing away. She’d seen his life, his world, the darkness within him, and still she stood here, challenging him—unafraid where others would tremble. Because seeing his life meant seeing his ability to kill and how easily he handed out one death sentence after another. How near the darkness he was himself. And how often he’d been weak, how often he’d hungered to give in to that darkness. Now, he hungered for her, and that scared him like nothing had in years.

  Darius told himself to stay where he was, not to go to Cathy. That it was dangerous—that he was dangerous. But for the first time in far too long, standing there in that doorway, watching the tears pour down her pale, perfect cheeks, Darius felt things he had not dared allow himself feel—and it was so much more than his own guilt over hurting her. He felt her pain, felt her emotions. He felt a connection that reached beyond simple mating. It was the raw human understanding of another person’s wants and needs. He’d hurt her, hurt her in a way she didn’t deserve to be hurt. And that somehow hurt him.

  Before he could stop himself, he was moving, closing the distance between them, then he went down on one knee in front of her. In spite of all of the power within him, he was humbled by this woman—not by her destined link to him, but by her bravery, her forgiveness. She stared down at him, her eyes crystal-blue. He didn’t know why he hadn’t let himself notice before. He didn’t know why he dared now.

  “It’s not that I can’t see you, Cathy. It’s that it takes every bit of energy I possess to control the demon in me. I’m barely hanging on.” Touching her, that soft skin against his palm, he could feel physical need spiraling inside him. He lowered his voice. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Then don’t make me the enemy,” she whispered, her fingers touched his face, gentle, enticing. “You’re not alone, Darius. You never were. You always had the Knights and now you have me. But alone is where Adrian wants you. He doesn’t want us to come together, and now that we have, he’s trying to use me against you. Don’t let him. We can save each other, and he knows it.”

  Darius felt the battle of beast and man rising inside him, reminding him why there could be no bond. He buried his face in her stomach, hid the demon-red he knew was in his eyes. Deep down, Darius knew he still feared that Cathy wouldn’t be able to see past his evil, that he would be the one who made her run. “It’s not that simple.”

  She bent down, stared into his eyes, refusing with her actions to allow him to hide his dark side from her. “It is that simple,” she said, her hands on his chest, her lips temptingly close. “Not so long ago, my mother dated a man she thought she loved, an evil sor
cerer pretending to be a friend while he secretly did Adrian’s bidding. They tried to use my mother to get to me, Darius. Adrian didn’t want us to come together then, and he doesn’t want us to now. We are mates, and like all mates, our abilities will be stronger after we bond. Darius, you are already powerful. Do you not think Adrian fears the day you are no longer susceptible to that demon inside you and are stronger, more powerful?”

  “There isn’t enough man in me left to mate,” he said, his chest heavy with that truth.

  “Says Adrian,” she countered. “I heard him tell you that. You won’t kill me. He just wants you to believe you will.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “I do, I know. I watched how Max was with Sarah. He was like you. He thought he’d kill her. You won’t kill me. We’re mates. Live or die together.”

  He wasn’t like Max. But for just a moment, Darius allowed himself to believe he wasn’t too far gone, allowed himself to believe he could have Cathy—he could have life.

  Their eyes locked and held, the tension, the burn for one another, sudden, intense. Crashing over them like a tidal wave in the ocean. In that moment, Darius knew nothing but his need for this woman, for his mate. He was barely aware of his actions, of pulling her close and kissing her, his hand laced through the silky strands of her hair, his tongue delving deep into the sweet taste of woman, of mate. She moaned into his mouth, sinking into the kiss, the soft curves of her body melting into his. The feel of her next to him drove him wild. There was no man; there was only burn, only beast. He was hard, his cock pulsing with the primal need to find his way inside his woman. Her sweet, puckered little nipples pressed to his chest and driving him to the brink of insanity. He had to see her, had to feel her naked next to him. He shoved a hand under the shirt she wore and pushed it up her body. She pulled it over her head, and he filled his hands with her full, high breasts. She was panting, her eyes heavy with a lusty bedroom look that about had him ready to rip his jeans open right there on the balcony.

  In the far corner of his mind, he knew he was losing control, knew he should stop. But he didn’t stop. He pushed onward, tasting her, touching her. He stood up, her legs wrapping around his waist, her kiss feeding his hunger. There was only lust, desire, need.

  There was no memory of undressing, yet he was naked, his throbbing erection nuzzled between her thighs, the wet heat of her body sliding against him, calling him to enter her. No. That was her—that was Cathy. She whimpered his name, her fingernails digging into his back. “Please,” she cried out. “Please. Now, Darius.”

  Darkness came over him again, as if he were blacking out, no thought—just feelings. He sunk into her, the wet, warm heat surrounding him, taking him. Making him thrust and pump. Her hands were everywhere, her hips lifting into his actions. He had never wanted so much, never needed so badly. Never thrust so hard. He was lost, lost, and he couldn’t remember why that was a problem, why he had tried to hold back. Until the tingling started, the extension of the cuspids that a Knight had only one time in his life—when he was mating.

  “No!” he yelled, trying to pull away from her, but he couldn’t stop thrusting, couldn’t stop wanting and needing. “No!” He buried his head in her shoulder, his desire to bite her there almost too great to contain. One bite and she would be his, she would wear his mark—their souls merged. One taste of her blood. Ravenous hunger burned through him, and he thrust into her to keep from biting her, the lust licking a path through his body. The darkness—the darkness that was the demon—threatened. I’ll kill her.

  He must have said it out loud because Cathy’s hand came around his neck, her lips to his ear. “You won’t kill me,” she whispered. “You won’t. Don’t stop, Darius. Don’t.”

  He inhaled her scent, her words, the raw need in her that so matched his own. Inhaled again and forced himself to stop, to lie there. To force back the beast and find the man.

  “Not like this,” he whispered. “Not now.” And then he began to pump, to thrust, fulfill the need to have her, but not through that bite, only through their bodies. They clung together, glistening with the sweet burn of desire, the burn to be one. Harder and faster, he pushed up on his hands, arched his back to press deeper. Cathy screamed out and tensed, the look of pleasure on her face enough to rock him, the spasms that followed damn near ripping his orgasm from his body. He shook with the intensity of the release, spilling himself inside her.

  Long minutes passed, their bodies joined together, the rage of the demon slowly easing, but just slightly. He still wanted to claim her, still needed to make her his.

  “Why?” she asked. “Why did you hold back?”

  His chest filled with emotion, and he pressed up onto his elbows and stared down at her. Saw the pain and confusion in her eyes. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”

  “Damn you, Darius,” she hissed. “Don’t you lie to me while you’re still inside me. If you found the strength to hold back, you know you wouldn’t have killed me. This is about Talleous, isn’t it? About your silent vow to kill him. Because killing Talleous will doom you to hell, and you don’t want to take me with you.”

  Good Lord, how much had the woman seen of his life, of his thoughts? “I won’t mate with you like this, Cathy. When we mate, it will be a choice, not because you fear that Adrian will destroy me before you save me.”

  “And because you plan to kill Talleous.” It wasn’t a question.

  He forced himself to move, to roll off her, onto his back, before he could change his mind and sink his teeth into her shoulder. “Talleous is the only living human sorcerer powerful enough to help Adrian form another Black Line. I can’t let that happen, and the Knights are forbidden from killing a human.”

  She rolled over and stared down at him. “You are a Knight.”

  “Which is why I’ll go to hell when I kill him.”

  “We’re powerful together, Darius,” she said, her hand on his face, her soft curves pressed to his side. “As mates, we will be stronger. We will find a way to bind his magic. You don’t have to kill him. We’ll go to Jag, to the Knights. They can help.”

  Gently, he shackled her wrist. If she kept touching him, he’d agree to whatever she wanted. He’d take her and make her his. “Jag will try and stop me from killing Talleous. I can’t take the chance that we will fail, Cathy.” Emotion welled in his chest.

  She’d seen all he was. And now, now, she wanted to save him. But what about later? Would she remember those things and wonder how she’d become his mate? Wish she had not? That was another chance he wasn’t willing to take.

  Live or die together, Cathy had said. He wouldn’t let her die. And he wouldn’t let Jag die.

  Talleous was another story.

  Chapter Seven

  It had taken Cathy several weeks to convince Darius that they needed Jag’s help, and that the magic Jag had acquired after finding his mate, Karen, had made him a force to be reckoned with. To do so, she’d reluctantly promised to keep secret his intention to kill Talleous, if his powers could not be bound. And now, nearly a month after meeting Darius, Cathy stood in the corner of one of the training facilities located inside the Texas ranch that served as a cover for the Knights of White training camp. In silent wonder, she watched as Darius and Jag matched swords—not because either of them needed the swords to defeat a demon, but because they were learning to work together, to anticipate each other’s actions.

  The first fragments of magic indicating that a new Black Line was forming had come only days after the first Line had been destroyed. Talleous himself was well shielded, protected by the Demon Master’s cloak of invisibility. But to complete the first Circle of Power in the new Black Line, Talleous and Adrian wouldn’t be able to hide. They would have to show themselves at the next full moon, which was only days away. And if everything went as the Knights planned, Talleous would end that night without his powers.

  Her gaze followed the movements of Darius and Jag, spellbound by the two immortals as they danc
ed in battle, the air charged with power and magic. Jag—tall, Hispanic, his raven hair long, his goatee trimmed close to his face, confident and steady—was an awe-inspiring machine when he did battle. But it was Darius that kept her mesmerized, the muscles of his arms and shoulders flexing with each swipe of his blade, and his agile, quick movements telling of centuries of battle. She could feel the dark and the light converging. And she thanked God for Jag, who had no idea Darius intended to die for him, yet treated him as if he knew—and accepted Darius as he was. She’d seen this acceptance, this new feeling of belonging, changing Darius, too. She’d seen hope fill his eyes, seen the will to survive begin to form.

  Karen entered the room, and Cathy saw how her eyes lit when they met Jag’s, the two of them so obviously in love. When Cathy was with Darius, she felt that kind of bond, and felt his need to be with her as well. Yet, he didn’t come to bed with her—not since that first night they’d made love. He held back. No matter how much they talked, no matter how close they grew, when it came time to go to bed, he went to another room, kept a distance that avoided temptation. And she knew why. If they mated and he killed Talleous, she’d share his destiny—his fate in hell. Suddenly, Darius appeared by her side, his hand sliding to her back. “Why are you upset?”

  Cathy turned to face him, her stomach fluttering from the impact of his touch, and the now familiar jolt of awareness when they made eye contact, no less intense than ever. She didn’t have to ask how he knew she was upset. He read her easily, felt the fluctuation in her magic that she barely felt herself. At any other time, she’d be pleased with how easily he’d become accustomed to touching her, but now it only reminded her of why he avoided her in private. They’d spent long hours walking around the ranch, talking, learning about one another’s ways, and yet she went to bed alone every night. She was falling in love, and he was running from her. She couldn’t do this. Couldn’t stay silent.