She couldn’t believe she had actually said that.
She wasn’t normally one to tell a guy to cover up when he was pressing all the right buttons in her. Normally, she made them get even more naked, and satisfied whatever urges struck her until they were both boneless and sated.
Normally, the object of her lust wasn’t a damned angel, and she wasn’t on a mission that was life or death.
“I have a witch to question.” She tried to sound forceful and resolute, but her words came out distant and weak as her eyes caught on Rey’s mouth-watering body again and she lost herself in the way his muscles bunched and flexed as he tossed his wrecked t-shirt into a nearby bin and produced another one in his hand.
She almost let out a whimper of displeasure as he pulled the new black t-shirt on over his head, covering all that perfection and stealing it from view.
He stormed past her, leaving her reeling in the street, struggling to get her head back on straight. He was an angel. She was not going to do this with an angel, letting him get under her skin. She had learned her lessons about leaving her heart unguarded and had vowed that no one would ever get close to her again, and so far she had managed that.
Until Rey.
Asteria looked over her shoulder at him as he stalked away from her, long legs eating up the distance to the coven building, and slowly turned to face that direction.
Something about him had thrown her off her game.
She followed him in a daze as she tried to pull her shit together and extinguish the twisted desire he had ignited within her. She wasn’t interested in anything to do with him. She was just using him to get to the half-breed. As soon as the little female was in her grasp, she was done with him and she would return to Hell and never see him again.
She strode after him and caught up with him at the coven door. Several males dressed in drab brown pants that were laced over the crotch and flouncy white shirts that resembled something Mr Darcy would have worn loitered outside of the ugly brown and white building they called home.
She wasn’t in the mood, but she turned on the charm anyway, flashing smiles and a little cleavage in their direction.
“I’m looking for a guy called Alyx.”
She was fairly certain he had probably been born Alex and had changed the ‘e’ to a ‘y’ to sound more mysterious. It was the sort of rubbish witches did to make themselves more impressive and to fit the image many of their patrons had of them. The name Alyx was bound to sell more seduction and love potions than the name Alex.
A couple of the guys looked disappointed she wasn’t there looking for them, but one of them was kind enough to point towards the left side of the first floor.
“In the library probably.”
She thanked him with another smile and a patented saucy wink, and swept into the building with Rey on her heels. Or at least, she had thought he would be on her heels and eager to get down to questioning her lead. She looked back and found him glaring at the three witches, a look in his eyes she found far too pleasing. He looked as if he was mentally dismembering them.
Asteria cleared her throat.
Rey looked to his left towards her, issued another flesh-peeling glare at the three males, and then followed her up the steps and into the building.
“What was that all about?” she said in as light a tone as she could manage while that persistent little voice that had latched onto her desire for him whispered that he had been jealous of the attention she had given the males.
Tough titty for him then, because the means of getting information out of their lead that she had mentioned involved more than a wink and a smile.
And it was so wrong that part of her was actually looking forward to it now, couldn’t wait to find Alyx and start flirting with him, because it was like an experiment and she was aching to know the results.
Would her flirting with Alyx make the gruff and glowering angel jealous?
She bounded up the wooden staircase on the right of the hallway and along the corridor at the top, heading back on herself towards the front of the building. A grand wooden door on the right at the end of the hall was open and she poked her head around the corner, peering into it.
A young fairly-handsome male sat at a long oak desk, lit by a series of lamps, his head bent and dark eyes fixed on an open book in front of him.
“Alyx, I presume?” she said just as Rey caught up with her and the witch looked up, his dark eyebrows pinching as he settled his eyes on her and then Rey where he had appeared behind her in the doorway.
“Depends who’s asking.” The witch went back to his book and pushed his spectacles up his nose, his frown staying as he read another passage.
“Well… obviously I am.” She sashayed into the room, rounded the table and shoved the stack of books near him aside. He frowned at that and then at her, until she hopped up and sat on the table to his right where the books had been, flashing a lot of stocking as her plaid skirt rode up. “And obviously you’re Alyx. So, let’s cut to the chase, Handsome.”
He looked up at her with a question in his eyes, one they screamed loud and clear. She thought he was handsome?
In a geek-chic sort of way, with his glasses and dark hair that had been ploughed to death by his fingers while he had been studying whatever was in the no doubt boring book. She removed all distractions by leaning over, getting her cleavage nice and close to his face, and carefully closing said book.
His cheeks darkened, but his eyes did too. He might be awkward, but he definitely wanted her.
“So Alyx.” She twirled her hair around her left index finger, choosing the all-black side this time as she used her right hand to prop herself up on the desk as she leaned closer to him again. His eyes followed her fingers and she brushed her thumb over the tips of her hair, and then swept those tips across her lips, drawing his gaze there. “Maybe you can help me?”
He nodded, never taking his eyes off her mouth.
The intensity of Rey’s gaze on her increased and she did her best to ignore him as he moved around the room, coming to flank the witch. When he moved into the edge of her vision, he began pawing at the books on the cases that filled the entire wall behind Alyx and in front of her. She didn’t need to see Rey to be aware of him. His presence was a constant hot shiver across her skin. Was it the same for him?
She must have glanced at Rey, because Alyx looked towards him. She crossed her legs, flashing a little more thigh and drawing the witch’s focus back to her. His dark eyes lingered on her stockings and he drew down a deep breath.
Asteria released her hair, slowly reached towards him and cupped his jaw in her left hand. She smiled as she lifted his head and his eyes drifted up to meet hers.
“I’m looking for a friend. I heard she runs with the Cruyssen coven. She’s petite, but a firecracker. Has brown hair and matching brown eyes. A guy back in the Fort William fae town said she was heading this way and you’d be the one to ask… since you’re like the boss or something here.”
He swallowed again. “I-I’m not the boss… but I’m in charge of welcoming them.”
She stroked her fingers along the line of his jaw. A little weak for her liking. She preferred strong, square jaws. Her gaze darted to Rey again, to that wicked hard line of his jaw that screamed masculine. Alyx noticed and tried to follow her gaze. She stopped him by applying a little pressure to his jaw, keeping his focus on her.
“Maybe you know her then?” She smiled and fluttered her eyelashes. “It really would help me out. Really.”
Asteria leaned closer, until their faces were only inches apart, and dropped her voice to a low sultry whisper.
“Really… I would be so grateful if you could tell me when you expect them to arrive.”
Alyx edged towards her, eyelids dropping to half-mast as his gaze focused on her mouth. “They called earlier… said they were arriving tomorrow as they were travelling through the night… should be here around noon… but she might be earlier.”
&nbs
p; Asteria looked over his head at Rey.
His cold eyes chilled her to the bone.
He disappeared.
She stared at the spot where he had been as her hand fell away from Alyx’s jaw and blinked hard, feeling off again. Odd.
As if she had done something wrong.
She rebounded quickly, leaning back and managing a smile for Alyx that she didn’t quite feel. She listened to him prattling about all the arrangements he was making, but her thoughts were with an infuriating angel and how he had made her feel by looking at her that way and leaving her the second he had the information he had come here for.
Her odd feeling was his fault.
It was because he had teased her about the men back at the fae town in Fort William and her methods of getting information. He had messed with her head, making her feel guilty of all things.
She tried to focus on Alyx but it was impossible, and that wouldn’t do. The angel was getting dangerously under her skin and it was high time that she remembered why she was here and that it was her life on the line.
She couldn’t fail this time.
She looked out of the window to her left at the haphazard roofs of the fae town and denied the urge to use her senses to locate Rey.
It was for the best.
It was better if she avoided him and got her mind back on her mission, and that was exactly what she was going to do.
She was going to get the jump on him tomorrow by cutting the half-breed off before she entered the town.
She would complete her mission. The Devil would be happy with her and wouldn’t kill her.
She would return to Hell.
And she would never see Rey again.
CHAPTER 6
Rey did his best to keep his eyes off Asteria as she bounced up the stairs ahead of him, a spring in her step as she closed in on the male witch they were here to question. She turned at the top and disappeared from view until he hit the landing and looked to his left, finding her almost at the open door near the end of the hall.
Her tartan mini skirt swayed with each step she took, her long slender legs carrying her at a quick pace towards her next victim.
The poor witch wasn’t going to know what had hit him.
Rey still wasn’t sure himself.
She peeked around the corner and he finally caught up with her, spotted the insipid male occupying the library, and barely stifled his urge to curl his lip at the wretch. Asteria didn’t help his mood as she bounded into the room and started flirting with the witch.
He did his best to filter her out and focus on the male as she cleared a space and then sat on the table beside the one called Alyx. It was difficult when Asteria’s voice filled the room, her presence sucking the air from it and pulling his focus back to her.
His skin prickled, heat washing over it beneath his t-shirt as he recalled the way her vivid blue eyes had roamed his bare chest, leaving her mark on him. Her words swam in his mind, jumbling together, interlaced with the things she had said to him when they had been alone in the street.
She thought him incredible.
He shoved that out of his head, but it snuck back in, drifting around it, constantly taunting him.
She thought him incredible and it had troubled her. It troubled him too. Not because she thought such a thing, but because he felt attracted to her, had experienced a flush of desire on hearing those words leave her red lips.
He wasn’t sure how to handle the sudden spark of need. She was a demon. Evil.
He looked at her as he rounded the rectangular oak table, unable to tear his gaze away. Was she evil?
She barely seemed that way to him.
She could be mischievous and naughty, and he suspected she had some violent tendencies, but on the whole he couldn’t bring himself to label her as evil, not as he had been trained to view all demons.
If he forced himself to ignore what he knew she was, a demon, and viewed her actions and her objectively based on the things she had revealed to him in the times they had been together, she didn’t come out any more wicked than most fae he had met, and even some angels.
Rey huffed and fingered the spine of one of the leather-bound books on the crammed shelves.
He wanted to feel repelled by her, repulsed and sickened, and there had been times when he had almost convinced himself that he was, but then she would do something like twirl her hair around her nimble fingers or say something that didn’t fit with the demon mould, and he would find himself attracted to her.
It was troubling considering the reason he was here—to apprehend a half-breed.
It was doubly troubling considering that he had never felt attracted to anyone before. He had lived for nearly five centuries without experiencing any sexual urges and now he kept feeling them.
For a demoness.
It was dangerous, whatever this was.
The sudden hunger to use his Echelon gift on her that had come over him when the Fourth Commander had teleported into the town was proof of that.
He hadn’t been able to stop the mark on his wrist from activating, and had barely leashed the urge to lay his hand on her. One touch. That was all it would take. One touch and she would be gravely injured, or worse.
He wasn’t sure why he had tried to make her run from him in that moment.
The desire had gone through him so sharply, so strongly, that he hadn’t been able to deny it. He had desperately wanted her away from him, out of the firing line.
The cross on his wrist burned again, a low throbbing that bothered him. He rubbed it with his left thumb as he perused the books, diligently keeping his eyes off Asteria and picking out only the male witch’s responses.
It became impossible to ignore her when she moved, touching the male’s jaw, and glanced his way.
He looked across at her and something more than his wrist burned as he saw her leaning close to the male, her hands on him, her voice a low seductive whisper.
Rey clenched his jaw and his fists, fighting the urge to tear her away from the male.
He blamed it on her, using his lead to get information, ruining his investigation and interfering in it.
Even when part of him knew that was a lie.
The male mentioned a time the half-breed would make an appearance in the town.
Rey didn’t hang around to see the climax of Asteria’s flirting. The moment she looked his way, he teleported out of the building and straight to his room in the black tavern next door.
He paced the small room, swift strides shaking the worn dark wooden floor, causing several boards to creak beneath his weight as he tried to work off some energy to stop him from going back to the coven and attacking Asteria.
And the witch.
Images of them together taunted him, the male replacing him in the visions he’d had based on the things she had said to him, picturing her wrapped around him, her heels pressing into that male’s backside instead.
He growled and swore an oath, and turned fast towards the wall. His fist slammed into it, meeting solid stone beneath the blue plaster, and pain blazed along his bones, a fiery bolt of lightning. He breathed hard, his fist lodged in the dented plaster, and fought to rein in his fury.
It was her fault.
Everything was her fault.
She was affecting him even though he had vowed it wouldn’t happen again. He was stronger than this. Whatever urges she stirred in him, whatever false desire she had implanted in him, it ended now. He was done with her.
He pulled his hand from the wall, grimaced as he opened his fist and his fingers ached, and huffed as he strode to the double bed against the opposite wall and flopped onto his back on the dull blue duvet. He looked off to his right, to the window there, and sighed as his hand throbbed. The pain slowly faded, but the ache in his chest remained.
Rey exhaled hard and sank into the bed, emptying his mind and shutting down his unruly emotions, putting everything back into place. Just the way he liked it.
Tomorr
ow, he would intercept the half-breed and his mission would be done.
He would return to Heaven.
And he would never see Asteria again.
He closed his eyes to sleep.
But Asteria was waiting for him in his dreams.
CHAPTER 7
Asteria was dreaming. A scorching-hot one. Just the way she loved them. Only this time it felt more wicked than usual, hotter than Hell on a summer’s day, because the male slowly kissing his way down her left thigh as he pulled her stocking down had something no male she had been with before had possessed.
Huge pearly white wings.
They arched from his back, feathered monstrosities that gradually swept down to rest on the dark purple covers of the double mattress. Like a hawk’s covered its prey, his covered her, and the way his green eyes glowed with gold fire as he lifted his head and gazed up the length of her body at her left her feeling that he was going to eat her whole.
She shuddered as he lowered his head and pressed a soft kiss to her inner thigh, his breath hot on her skin.
Even in sleep she was aware of how wrong this was, this hunger she felt for him and the thrills that chased through her as she watched him, felt his strong hands on her and his mouth brushing across her flesh.
By the Devil.
She couldn’t bite back the moan as he lightly skimmed his hand down her calf, teasing her with the feel of her own stockings as he pushed them lower.
Something told her she wasn’t in control of this dream, something that jangled warning bells in her head that she couldn’t quite get herself to hear.
If this had been her dream, she would still have her boots on, ready to press into his buttocks when he took her, spurring her stallion on.
She had entered the dream without them, had already been half-naked on the bed with Rey looming over her, the delicious honed muscles of his torso on display as he supported himself away from her.
Her naughty angel went to work on her other stocking, his fingers black magic as he stroked the light fabric down her right thigh, his lips worshipping every inch of skin he exposed. When she realised he was tracing the swirls and spikes of her tattoo with his mouth and his tongue, she moaned and shuddered, could almost feel the ink on her skin and chart the path he would take. He followed every red arc, tracking back whenever he reached a point in the design to trace it to the next curve, as if he wanted to memorise it.
Awakened by a Demoness Page 6
