by Lia Davis, Milly Taiden, Kerry Adrienne, Vella Day, Andie Devaux
Taste her. Take her. Fuck her.
What the hell was wrong with him? His wolf had never pushed this hard. He’d never been the kind to let his dick lead the way. But for the first time of his life in hell, he wouldn’t mind spending the rest of his eternity in the Seventh fucking her senseless.
“You smell good.” The words left his mouth before he had a chance to stop them. She did smell good. Like fresh flowers and sex.
Laura squirmed in his hold until he let go of her.
“Look.” She took a breath and ran a visibly shaky hand over her bun. “I’m not here to get familiar with you or your privates.”
He grinned. Her use of the word privates sounded like something bad. It was no use telling her she would be his in time. He’d play her game and see about getting to know her.
“I’m simply here to ask you a few questions to match you up with someone.” She met his gaze.
His hands itched with the need to touch her, to hold her. “Fine,” he grumbled. “Ask your questions.”
She cleared her throat and glanced away, searching in her bag for something. A second later, she had a pad and pen in hand. He could tell she was trying to be polite, but her curiosity kept her gaze sliding back to his body. He’d never felt so good about all the training he did with the guards. At that moment, showing off the goods in order to get Laura’s attention didn’t sound bad to him.
“What, um, what is it you want in a woman?” She lifted a hand and wiped her brow.
He grinned, moving to grab his clothes and showing her his back. He bit back a chuckle at the soft gasp he heard. “What do I want in a woman?”
He slipped on his boxer briefs and continued strutting around her, taking forever to put on his clothes. Something inside him refused to back down from acting like the beast inside him. He wanted her attention. More than that, the wolf wanted her naked and moaning under him.
“Yes. What...you want in women, er...a woman,” she said throatily. Her voice was so husky it caressed him like cool drops of water on his overheated skin.
“I want a woman with curves,” he said and turned to meet her gaze to see her reaction. She’d been staring at his ass. Her gaze quickly rushed up to meet his. “I like to have something to hold on to when I’m driving deep into her.”
Her eyes widened. It wasn’t like he could go to hell for taunting her. He was already there.
“C-curves. All right.” She made notes on a pad. He acted as if he hadn’t noticed her hand shaking while she wrote.
He shouldn’t want her, but he did. The memory of his long, lost wife flitted through his mind. He’d kept himself celibate in her memory. He’d died for Kele. Most people didn’t understand why he’d been so devoted to her, when she wasn’t his mate, but she had treated him with care. She’d shown him warmth when all he’d known had been grueling pain. And now he was ignoring all he’d known for the mating call of the woman his wolf wanted. He couldn’t find it in him to be disgusted with his basic human needs. He wanted Laura. Wanted her like he’d never wanted his wife. And that was the part that kicked him in the gut.
Chapter Three
Laura’s blood pressure started to rise. Damien was brash and too full of himself and yet she couldn’t seem to stop her body from heating over his words. She clutched at the neckline of her blouse and swallowed hard.
He took his time sliding into a pair of jeans that fit him like a glove and made his sexy ass look even better.
“Anything else?” she asked.
“She has to like sex.”
Oh, good gracious. She was going to kill Davi. This was so not the kind of job she had in mind. This guard was way above her league. Just looking at him made her eyes tear up. He was so sexy her feminine hormones had started doing the mambo trying to get his attention.
And now he mentioned wanting a woman who liked sex. She had to stop her mind from questioning what he knew about the act that she didn’t. She’d had so little sex and none of it had been very enjoyable. What could he possibly know that would make him request a woman who liked sex? Now she wanted to know what there was to that. Dammit! Stupid muscled, sexy ass bastard. She might have killed her boss if only Davi wasn’t daughter of the queen of the underworld. Frickin’ hell.
“She should also have long, dark hair,” he said.
She gripped the pen and paper to stop herself from reaching up and touching her bun. Laura had long, dark hair. It went down her back in long curls which she didn’t like cutting because she’d been raised to keep it long. Women in her time didn’t cut their hair. They were vain and, though she tried not to hold on to any of the worldly vanities, she liked her hair long.
“Any personality traits?” She wrote his words and exhaled slowly.
They might have to wheel her out in an ambulance if he didn’t stop circling her while still shirtless. To make her torture even worse, he moved by a giant bay window facing the training fields and the light from outdoors cast a glow over his skin that made her knees wobble.
“I want someone that likes to have fun,” he said, gliding his sexy gaze down her body in one bold sweep. “I want her to be open-minded to anything and everything.” He grabbed a T-shirt and pulled it over his head, flexing his arms and abs as he did. “Especially in bed.”
Holy mother of all things naughty. This man was putting ideas in her mind she hadn’t had in all her years in the Seventh.
“Yes, well. I think I have enough to start my search.” She turned around to the entrance and started to rush away. “Have a good day.”
“Wait up,” he yelled, stomping towards her. “I’ll walk you out.”
She glared at the ceiling and growled in a low voice, “Thanks, that’s very nice of you, but I don’t need an escort.”
He moved in front of her to open the door. “I have to head to the palace for my next round. It’s not a problem.”
Could her day get any worse? If you worked for Davi, you were allowed to visit bars and get drunk, otherwise, what fun was it to live in the pit? Laura took off, marching ahead of Damien and going around a corner in a rush. Maybe he’d lose her in the process. She glanced over her shoulder and didn’t see him, only to walk into a man in front of her. The drunken man grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close.
“Come over here, sweet thing. You look like you need to learn to relax,” he breathed the words on her face. His bourbon breath made her scrunch her face in distaste.
“Ugh, let go you idiot.” She pulled away, trying to disentangle herself from the inebriated man. It took some doing, but she got loose, only for him to grab her from behind.
He wrapped his arms around her chest. “No way, baby. You got an ass I want to get to know better.”
Oh, for goodness’ sake. She elbowed the drunk. He grunted, swaying away. Once she had enough space between them, she turned around to face him and saw Damien rounding the corner. A fierce scowl dipped over his brows.
She narrowed her gaze at the drunk. “Behave, or I’ll be forced to teach you how to treat women,” she said impatiently, fixing her blouse.
“What’s going on?” Damien growled.
She blinked at the way his eyes glowed. His features turned animalistic. It was then she realized what he was. A shifter. Davi wanted her to get a shifter matched? The woman was insane. Shifters had mates. How, in the name of all that was fiery red in the pit, was she going to get Damien matched with his mate?
“This lassie here is playing hard to get,” mumbled the drunk, wavering on his unsteady feet.
She glanced at Damien. “Give me a second.” Then turned to the drunk. “Listen to me. I am not playing hard to get. You have to know that women don’t like stinky drunk men groping them.”
“He groped you?” Damien roared.
“Stay right there.” She pointed at Damien. “I can handle this.”
“Wha-chu mean stinky?” The drunk hiccupped. He swung his arms in an attempt to grab her again, but
she kneed him in the crotch for his efforts. He doubled over and fell to the ground, screaming in pain.
She folded her arms over her chest and glared at the drunk. “No means no.”
“You... you’re a mean lassie,” cried the drunk. “Mean.”
She rolled her eyes and turned away, heading toward the palace. She didn’t worry about the drunk man too much. Someone would take him home eventually.
Damien rushed up by her side. She could feel his energy calling out to her. Wow. A man that dangerous and strong shouldn’t need her to find him a woman.
He didn’t say anything to her. When she glanced at him from the corner of her eye, she caught him frowning straight ahead.
They got back to the palace and she stopped by Davi’s office, leaving Damien at the entrance.
“Are you going to go talk to Davi?” she asked, clearing her throat.
He finally glanced at her. His facial lines were still tight and he pressed his lips into a thin line. “No.”
She blinked and watched him turn on his heel and walk away. What the heck was his problem? He’d gone from getting ready to offer her his body like a pagan sacrifice, which she did not mind at all, to serious and growly.
Thinking about it and trying to figure it out would only give her a headache. She twisted the knob for Davi’s office and braced herself. It was going to get crazy in there.
“How did it go?” Davi asked without giving her much time to step foot in the door.
“Well…” He’s got a big piece of equipment that should get him some female attention. “Um, he said he wants someone interested in sex. Someone who likes it.”
Davi frowned. “What does he mean someone who likes sex? Doesn’t everyone like sex?”
Flames of embarrassment scorched Laura’s cheeks. She didn’t know how to answer that. She’d never had much sex. The handful of times she’d done it the act had been painful, annoying and left her quite unsatisfied. It’s what had made it easy for her to not have sex in hundreds of years.
Davi’s eyes widened. Shit. She’d taken too long to answer. “You! You don’t like sex!”
Ah hell. She snorted, twisting her lip and rolling her eyes. “Oh, please.”
“Don’t try to trick me, Laura.” Davi blinked her gorgeous burgundy eyes at her. “You don’t like sex. The question is, why?”
She sighed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Davi stared at Laura with new eyes. Her assistant did not like sex. That should be a crime. Maybe that was the reason she was in the pit. Davi’s mother, Riyanna, had never given her Laura’s complete file, so she didn’t know why Laura was in hell. It was time she got her hands on it.
“What do you think of Damien?” Davi asked, watching Laura’s complexion turn shades of red, which was hard since she was dark.
“He’s... big.”
Davi’s brows flew up. Big? She narrowed her eyes and stared more intently at Laura. “Big where?”
Laura wrung her hands. A clear indication she was nervous. “He’s, er, tall.”
She was lying. Davi took a step back and turned away from Laura so she wouldn’t see Davi’s triumphant smile. “That he is.”
Davi walked over to her massive desk and flicked her wrist. A folder appeared in her hand. “I’m going to handle Damien’s first match.”
“You are?” Laura asked, her voice filled with shock.
Davi donned a bored expression and glanced at Laura. “Yes. I have someone in mind for him.”
“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped. “Okay, I’ll send you what information I gathered from him.”
Davi grinned. “Excellent.”
Davi watched Laura leave her office. She shook her head at how see-through Laura was. Davi flashed to her mother’s suite door. As one of the daughters of the Queen of the Underworld, she had the ability to move to and from places without needing to walk. All she had to do was think of where she wanted to go and she’d materialize in that place. It was a definite perk when the pit was so big. She grinned at the set of brass male balls her mother used for people to knock on the door. Every time she used them, the sound of a man in pain surrounded the entrance. Davi, being just as bad as her mother, she slammed the balls on the wooden door as hard as possible and waited, laughing at the man screaming in pain.
“Enter,” Riyanna called out with a husky tone that made every male in the vicinity groan.
Davi glanced down at her outfit. It would do. She didn’t have time to go strap on some leather for her mom. She pushed the large door open and sauntered in.
Riyanna sat back on a leather chair while two souls rubbed her feet. The men glanced up at Davi, open lust in their eyes.
“I did not tell you to stop!” An invisible whip cracked over the back of the men.
“Hello, mother.” Davi flashed her mother a smile and bent down to offer Riyanna a kiss on each cheek.
“Davianne. Have you figured out your problem yet?” her mother asked, bright red glowing in her eyes.
Davi flung a long raven lock of hair over her shoulder. “I have. I’ve decided to match minions.”
Riyanna nodded. “That’s quite astute of you, daughter.”
“I have a question, mother.” She sat on the sofa across from Riyanna. “I never got Laura’s complete file. Where is it?”
Riyanna raised a hand, motioning for her minions to stop and then curled a hand to push them to the door. They staggered away by the wave of power shoving at them.
“Laura. How is Laura?” Riyanna lifted a perfectly arched brow and stared at Davi.
“Great. I’m making her miserable.”
Riyanna sighed. “Davi, darling. Laura is not your typical soul. She cannot be treated as such.”
“I’m not treating her like the others. She’s a first in my matchmaking scheme,” Davi said proudly.
“Who are you matching her with?” Riyanna frowned and then blinked her eyes wide. “Damien Wrath?”
Davi nodded. “He’s perfect for her.”
Riyanna scrunched her nose for a second. “You’re right. He is perfect for her.” She stood, walking barefoot over the stone floor. “Go. I have business to attend to. Besides, I have a date tonight.”
She always had a date. Riyanna was the queen of the underworld. She was wanted by every man in the world and the underworld.
Davi appeared back at her office and summoned Damien. His existence was about to take a turn for the worse... for a little bit.
Chapter Four
Damien knew he’d done a lot of things while alive, but none bad enough to merit the torture Davi was putting him through.
“What do you mean you found me a match?” How in all hell had she done that? He had yet to even fill out the registration Laura had emailed him.
Davi gave him an innocent smile. “I have your best interests at heart.”
He glared at her. “You have no heart.”
“Okay, you’re right. I have my own best interest in mind, but this is going to be good. You have a date tonight.”
Fucking hell. He couldn’t believe she’d done this to him. A date? What the fuck was this, a new form of torture?
“I—”
She lifted a red tipped finger and placed it over her lips, indicating for him to be quiet. “You will do as I say, shifter. I do not need a reason to do what I please.”
“Fine.” Now he had to figure out how to see Laura and get rid of the date that night.
Davi waved her fingers and Damien went from being in her office, to standing by a restaurant table at the edge of the pit. Lost Souls was known for being the romantic restaurant in the Seventh. Just fucking awesome.
Someone tapped him from behind. He turned around and sighed. She’d set him up with one of the workers at the local bar. A waitress that had been trying to get in his pants for years.
“Hi, Elena.”
“Damien!” she squeaked, throwing herself in his a
rms. “I couldn’t believe it when Davi told me you were looking to get matched,” she gushed. “I just joined Hellmatch and was so scared I couldn’t find a man that could” — she leaned into his ear — “fulfill my needs.”
“Elena, listen,” he said, trying to pry her off him. The woman was like a leech, attached to his arm. “I’m not really looking for a match.”
Elena patted his hand and rubbed her cheek on his shoulder. “Davi said you were shy.” She pressed her breasts on his arm. “Don’t worry, handsome. I’ll take good care of you.”
Fuckity fuck fuck. How the hell was he going to get rid of Elena? She had been hinting at sliding into his bed for a long time. This was turning into a nightmare.
He sat down, hoping the night wouldn’t last as long as he knew Elena would want it to.
“Tell me about yourself, Damien,” she said, her eyes filled with lust. She licked her lips in what he could only assume was her way of flirting with him.
Damien hadn’t been interested in anyone since his wife. Except for Laura. Now that he finally got his body in working order, Davi insisted on matching him with some other woman. Instead of giving him Laura, the one woman he had connected with, she shoved someone else in his path.
“Not much to tell, Elena.”
“Do you have a sturdy bed?” She winked. “I bet a big guy like you needs a solid frame to... sleep on.”
He cleared his throat, unsure what to say. With Laura, it had come so easily. Flirting with her had been fun and a turn on. He didn’t know how to flirt with anyone else. Nor did he want to. Kele had not been the love of his life, but she’d been a caring, loving woman who had won his respect and faithfulness. Even in death.
Until now. Now all he wanted was a taste of Laura. The animal inside him roared at the need growing to near explosive levels.
“Have you ever been married?” The question burst out of his mouth. He hadn’t expected it to, and from Elena’s wide eyes, neither had she.
“No. Are you... are you looking for a wife?” she asked, excitement sparking in her eyes.
