by May Dawson
His muscular forearm slipped around my waist, holding me to his body, and he rolled over, pinning me beneath him before he pushed up. He kissed my neck again, his lips soft and sweet for a man who had just been holding my ass like it belonged to him. He grabbed my shorts, yanking them down, and I kicked them off when they reached my ankles. He turned back to me, but I was already reaching for his belt buckle, which I fumbled to unclasp in the pale, silver light.
"What's really rude is getting me naked but not letting me see you," I scolded him.
He sat back, gripping the hem of his t-shirt. "Well, I'm not nearly as pretty to look at."
"You know damn well that's a lie," I said tartly, and he grinned.
He pulled his t-shirt slowly over his head, to reveal his narrow, chiseled waist, each ab hard and defined. His pecs were broad and muscular in comparison, his skin tanned, and over his shoulders and pecs were elaborate black runes that I longed to trace.
He pulled the shirt over his head, his handsome face briefly hidden from view. While he was tangled in his shirt, I pounced forward, knocking him backwards and landing on top of him. I bit his naked shoulder playfully, sinking my teeth in just hard enough to leave a mark.
He yanked his shirt the rest of the way over his head and flung it away. "Now that is really rude," he said, catching me against his chest. His open hand smacked against my naked ass, the sound a loud slap in the quiet room, and my lips parted in surprise. The sting only fueled my lust, though. Blood rushed to my clit as if he had stroked me between my thighs.
He was watching my face curiously. A self-satisfied smirk that crossed his perfect lips the second he knew for sure that I liked it.
He smacked the other cheek. I wriggled back to sit up onto my knees and popped my hands onto my hips, moving my ass out of his reach. I cocked my head at him, mock-disapproving.
"Oh, don't pretend," he said. "I've always known you were the kind of girl to play rough." He rested his fingers on the new bruise I'd left on his shoulder, where the indents of my teeth were still small, white marks.
"Jacob Kerr," I said. "If you don't take those jeans off about thirty seconds ago, I'm going to be quite cross with you."
"Quite cross?" He raised an eyebrow. "Why are you talking like a BBC Special now?"
"Will you stop mocking me and provide me with your cock like you're supposed to?" I asked, my hands still on my hips.
"I can promise one of those things, at least.” He popped his hips up, sliding his jeans and boxers off. He settled back down on the floor, one muscular arm propped underneath his head, and made a come-here finger waggle at me.
I threw my leg over his hips. His big hand wrapped around my thigh, his fingers sinking into the soft, sensitive inner thigh, and I groaned slightly.
"We talk too much," I said, reaching down to grab his cock firmly and rub him against me. I made small circles with his head against my clit, using him like a toy to satisfy the desperate longing I had for him. But it didn’t work. I just wanted more of him.
"I wonder whose fault that could possibly be." His hand slid up my thigh, over my hip, to rest firm and possessive on my ass.
I nodded solemnly. "It is so hard to get you to stop babbling about your feelings and just fuck me."
His lips quirked up. I rolled away off him, and as soon as I did he rolled with me, his hands on either side of my head in a perfect push-up position over my body.
The two of us had rolled and wrestled across the floor, so now we were near the fire, which cast bright, red-orange light over his perfectly chiseled body. His mouth was still quirked in a smile above that hard jaw, and I rested my hand against his cheek, overcome by a surge of fondness for him. It felt impossible that I loved him so much.
But I wrapped my thighs around his narrow waist and this time, I kept my feelings to myself. I squeezed my thighs as he rubbed against me, and he bent forward to kiss the side of my neck, just beneath my ear.
His teeth scraped playfully over my skin. "Let me in."
I let my thighs fall open. His tip brushed against my clit and then away, and I rolled my hips up in the wake of his cock, seeking more of him. He took his cock in one hand and brushed it against my clit. His eyes were steady on mine, watching my reaction as he teased me. My toes curled, my core clenching. I reached to take him in my hand, shoving his hand out of the way.
I guided him inside me. His shoulders curled in, his head bowing forward as he took a quick breath in. He rocked forward into me, and I closed my thighs around him again, my ankles resting in the small of his back. Together, the two of us rocked back and forth. His cock shoved deep inside me, filling me up, and then eased away. He tried to pull away entirely, as if he wanted to return to foreplay, but I squeezed around him, and he groaned as he slid back in.
He stroked my hair back from my forehead with a rough palm, a small tender gesture, and then the two of us were lost in the building heat between our bodies. I felt myself flush hot. His eyes drifted shut, his long, dark lashes resting against his high cheekbones. He bit down on his lower lip, holding himself back.
My core squeezed around him, a flush of pleasure so intense that it bordered on pain. My head fell back. The flames in the fireplace seemed to leap up, red and gold sparks popping, the world a blur of those golden eyes that opened quickly to take in my face and the golden sparks rising from the fireplace.
Jacob shattered. He groaned, burying his face in my breasts as he emptied into me. I wrapped my arm around the back of his powerful shoulders, watching his curls against my breasts, enjoying the give-and-take of power between us.
He collapsed playfully on top of me, resting his head on my shoulder. I laughed, and then he slid off beside me, taking his cock with him. I felt cool air between my thighs, a strange sensation on my hot, swollen clit. Together, the two of us lay in the heat of the fireplace, looking up at the ceiling.
His hand found mine, and the two of us lay there for a few quiet moments, our fingers intertwining.
"Definitely nice," Jacob mused out loud.
Chapter 7
I fell asleep curled in Jacob's arms, although it was awkward for us to sleep on the couch. I slept with his hard-muscled body held tightly all against mine, my spine fitted to his abs, the curve of my ass against his hips. I would've felt like I could fall off the couch at any moment, except that Jacob held me close, his muscular and heavily tattooed bicep heavy over my waist.
I drifted in and out of sleep all night, pulled between two poles: on the one hand, I felt safe and loved in Jacob's arms, and at the same time, I worried over my boys. Both the trial in the morning and Nim's fate weighed heavily on me. I hoped that Nim was loose in the Far, safe and free. Maybe he would meet up with my sister. After all, he shouldn't be suffering in Hell if his soul had found its way back to him. But if he were soulless, he could have been sucked straight into Hell like any other demon.
I had seen Samael torture Jacob. Now I could all too vividly imagine him doing the same to Nimshi. The thought made me press my hands over my closed eyes, trying to block out my own imagination.
"Ellis." The voice was soft in my ear, sexy as ever.
"Nim." I whispered. I knew I could wake Jacob and he would be glad to know his half-brother was alive—in a way—but for now, I slipped out from underneath his arm. I just wanted one selfish moment with my demon boyfriend.
I scrambled to my feet and slipped through the quiet living room, where Ryker and Levi also slept on the couches, to the kitchen. The light was on above the sink, casting a little half-circle of golden light, bright and comforting when the view through the window was of dark night above the black pines. I hopped up onto the counter, pulling my bare feet up to sit cross-legged. "Are you okay?"
There was a second's hesitation.
"I always land on my feet." His voice was sly.
"That doesn't answer my question." Even I could hear how almost-frantic my voice sounded. "Nim. Where are you? Are you in the Far?"
"I am. Don't
worry about me, sweetheart."
"You're not in Hell?"
There was another pause. One heartbeat, two. I chewed absently on my thumbnail.
"Bad luck, really," he said. "Waste of an Immortal to be struck with a Final blade. And here I thought our adventure was just beginning."
He was being an evasive bastard, and that told me everything I needed to know.
"We're getting you out of Hell," I told him firmly. I could hear the boys stir on the couches, as if my voice were waking them, or maybe as if even in their sleep, they responded to my distress.
"I'm not in Hell."
"You're a goddamn liar, Nimshi."
"Sweetheart."
"Don't sweetheart me. I need you."
"Really?" His voice was teasing. "Why don't you tell me about it?"
"Nim. How do we help you?"
"You stay where you're safe. Samael wants you."
"That man is all drama," I muttered. "You'd think murdering me once would be enough. He needs to move on."
"Listen to me," Nim said urgently. "One day, I'll find my way out of here. You know me. Always a plan."
"Yeah, and imagine how fucking awesome your plans would turn out if you told any of us what you were doing."
"My brothers can't act to save their lives. They had to think I was really murdering Jacob."
"Oh, and am I a shitty actress too? You couldn't just call me up like you're doing now?"
"I wanted to know if you'd believe in me or not." His voice was low, and no matter how coolly he spoke the words, they made me feel a shiver of regret.
"I saw it with my own eyes, Nim. I didn't know better."
"It's all right," he said, and his voice was comforting; I could almost see him in my mind's eye, winking at me. "You played the part you needed to play."
"I have the rest of our life together to show you that I trust you," I said.
He sighed. "Ellis."
"Nimshi."
"You should give up on me."
"I thought the whole point of this conversation was that I should never have given up on you in the first place."
"I want you to stay safe."
"Even though I failed your little test?" I curled my knees into my chest, wrapping my arms around my bare legs. It felt cool in the kitchen in the night time, although I knew the world on the other side of the dark windows was drenched in the damp heat of Virginia summer.
"Are we really going to fight?" The warm teasing in his voice made me smile slightly to myself, a release from the tension. "When I'm here in Hell?"
"So you admit it."
"Promise me you'll wait until I make my move," he said. "The four of you can't come here."
"I'm supposed to be able to walk through Hell," I said. "I'm the Lilith. What's the point of that if I can't rescue my favorite half-demon?"
"I'm literally the only half-demon you know."
"You'd be my favorite even if I knew hundreds. Are they hurting you?"
"It's fine. Family reunion down here. Hedron wouldn't let them hurt me."
"You're lying to me again."
"How do you know that?"
"You fooled me once."
"Spectacularly." He sounded self-satisfied. "Ryker was ready to murder me."
"He's come around."
"I got him good."
"Yeah, so good. You should be grateful he didn't actually get the chance to kill you."
Ryker stirred and then sat up on the couch, as if he'd heard his name even though Nimshi's voice was intimately low and familiar in my ear.
"Admit it," Nimshi said. "You're thankful now that I marked you as mine. That we can talk."
"You could've asked first. I still owe you a mark back." I thought of how I'd left my mark on Jacob earlier, and I could just imagine my mouth on Nimshi's shoulder.
"You marked me as yours when we first met, remember?"
I'd been thinking so literally—and lustfully—that it too me a second to make the connection. When we were escaping the demon's case, after Nim murdered Samael to save me, Nim had looked at me in confusion. "Are Liliths always magnetic?"
Jacob had gotten a laugh out of that one.
"I'm glad we can talk. But I need to know where you are, how we can help you."
Ryker crossed the room to me, resting his hands on my legs. "Are you talking to Nim?"
I nodded.
"It's like we're on speaker phone," Nim said. "Hey, big brother."
"Nimshi." Ryker’s voice was stoic, and it was almost hard to imagine him taking his little brother’s patron-demon pendant and making a graveside promise. But then, Ryker asked, "How do we rescue you?"
"You don't," Nim said. I rolled my eyes, wishing I could make Nimshi shut up, but he went on anyway. "Make Ellis see sense. Going into Hell is like Lilith 401, and you guys haven't exactly gotten A's as it is."
"Right," Ryker said. "Well, assume we're morons and we're going to do it anyway."
"I always do," Nimshi said. He broke off suddenly. His voice was a whisper when he said, "I have to go."
Ryker's fingers tightened slightly on my legs, but we both paused, listening.
I heard Nim grunt in pain. My eyes widened as they met Ryker's; his deep green eyes were intent and full of alarm. Both of us stayed silent, listening.
But there was nothing else after that.
Ryker wrapped his arms around me as I began to shiver. He drew me against his body. He shushed me softly, his lips against my hair.
"We'll get him back, Firestarter. Don't worry."
"We'll be morons?" I tried to make my voice light, no matter how I felt.
"We'll be morons," Ryker agreed. "Morons who outsmart Hell."
Chapter 8
The next morning, Ryker swung into the driver's seat of the Lexus, and Jacob opened the passenger door for me.
"I can't drive?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at Ryker as he clipped in his seatbelt.
"You can," Ryker said. "You're not very good at it, but obviously, you managed to get your license so—"
I nodded my thanks to Jacob as I settled into my seat, all lady-like, and he gently closed the door behind me. Then I reached across the console and slugged Ryker in the arm as hard as I could.
"Ouch," he said.
I resisted the urge to shake out my own hand, because my god, that boy's bicep was solid.
Ryker rubbed his arm for a second before his hands returned to the wheel to steer us down the long driveway. "Remind me to stop teaching you how to punch. You're getting dangerous."
"I've always been dangerous," I said. To myself, mostly. And to things that were highly flammable. But I wasn't going to mention that.
"Yes, you have," he said, his tone affectionate.
"Game faces on?" Levi suggested, glancing up from his cell phone, which he'd used to map our route. "Since we're on our way to a nice abandoned factory to meet the Council? Also, traffic looks fine. We have time to stop at Starbucks on the way."
I tilted my head against the back of the seat to look at him over my shoulder. "Are you really this cool or are you faking?"
Levi shrugged. "I can't tell anymore."
Ryker touched my thigh to get my attention, then pointed to a side road. “Fun fact—that’s the road where the McKennas live. Close enough that we could carpool if they weren’t trying to get us killed.”
Jacob leaned forward from the seat behind me and rested his hands on my shoulders. "We'll be fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," he said. "Of course. Worst case scenario, we'll kill them all."
"Love your optimism," I muttered.
And then the world exploded.
There was a boom in my ears, and the car jerked sideways. The airbags went off. My seatbelt held me tight against the seat, but my head whipped forward. One of my hands, desperately grabbing for something to hold onto, jarred hard against one of the airbags as it exploded in a white puff. The car landed on its side, pavement seeming to slam against my window like
a wave. With our momentum, the car kept sliding, screeching across the pavement.
We came to a stop.
"Everyone okay?" Ryker asked. He already had his boot knife in his hand. He quickly stabbed the airbags that were blocking his vision out the front of the car, then shoved down on them to deflate them.
"More or less." Jacob said.
"Yeah," Levi said shortly.
Ryker's eyes flickered toward me.
"Okay." I tried to unbuckle my seatbelt, but it seemed stuck, or maybe I was frazzled. Ryker reached over and slashed the seatbelt. I fell against the window.
"Firestarter?" Ryker got the car window open. When he released his seatbelt, his legs briefly fell toward me before he caught himself on the door frame and deftly pulled himself up. He looked back down at me with those deep green eyes, leaning down to offer me a hand out.
I grabbed my sword and harness, which I'd left by my feet, and reached up to grab his hand. I let him tow me out of the car, catching my foot against the edge of the frame, until I stood with him on the side of the car.
I was dizzy and sore, but we had to move. From the corner of my eye, I could see Levi and Jacob climbing out too. "We need cover."
Ryker jumped down and turned, putting his arms up to catch me. I jumped and caught myself, rocking forward with my hand against his chest. He was already pushing me ahead of him toward the other side of the car.
Levi and Jacob jumped down, and Jacob jerked his head toward the woods on the other side of the car. We knew what side the attack had come from; it had crumpled in the doors on the side of the car that was turned up toward the sky.
The four of us quickly ducked into the woods on the side of the ditch.
Ryker mouthed, "I'm going around."
"I'm going with you." I mouthed back.
A second explosion slammed into the trees in front of us. Levi threw himself on top of me, tucking me under his body.
The blast threw mud and tree branches and shrapnel at us, a slap of air and debris. My adrenaline was too high to even tell if I'd been hurt yet, though. All I felt was energy.
