“That’s why they wanted me back. They didn’t really give me a choice.”
“Oh, come on,” she scoffed. “You’d have gone anyway. You and your hero complex.” It was a bitchy thing to say, but he just shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and nodded.
“I deserved that.”
“You more than deserved it.” So much for keeping her temper in check. “How could you do that to me? I mean, I get why you left, but how could you tell me you want me and then turn around and send a kiss-off message through Runa? You couldn’t do it yourself? What kind of chickenshit move was that?”
“The kind of move that sends you straight to some other guy,” he snapped.
“And you wanted that… why?”
Suddenly he was in front of her, his hands clamping down on the kitchen island behind her, penning her between his body, his arms, and the counter.
“I was in a really bad place. I missed the hell out of you, and I figured that if you moved on, I could concentrate on what I needed to do. But I should have known better, because I couldn’t think about anything but you.” He emphasized his words with a slow grind of his pelvis against her belly. “The idea that another man might have been making love to you killed me.”
“Good.” She tilted her head to look at him. “You hurt me.”
He lowered his mouth to hers. “I’m sorry,” he said against her lips, and a shock of heat sizzled all the way to her core. “I’m so sorry.”
Tentatively, he kissed her, but she didn’t kiss him back. At least, not until he swiped his tongue over her bottom lip while pushing his hips into hers, making her gasp and open up to him. Instantly, he penetrated her mouth, the hot, wet slide of his tongue against hers forcing her participation.
A slow burn heated the blood in her veins, loosened her up so that when he dragged his mouth along her jawbone and down her neck, she threw her head back and thawed completely.
“More?” he murmured against her skin.
All she could manage was a soft, “Mmm-hmm.”
Her breath caught as he swept her up and spun around to plant her butt on the table between the plates and the candlesticks.
Roughly, he shoved her skirt up around her waist and then unbuttoned his jeans. He didn’t release himself, instead turning his attention to yanking off her panties. They tore when they caught on one of her boots, but she didn’t care. He did that to her, made her forget everything except how she felt when he was touching her.
Needing closer contact, she gripped his shoulders, but he caught her wrists in one of his large hands and stretched her arms over her head. He hooked his other arm behind her waist and bent her back, dragged his tongue from her throat to where her shirt gaped open between her breasts as he lowered her to the table.
He looked at her, the raw hunger and flickering candlelight making his eyes flash. “I’m going to do you right here on the table, Gem. Can you handle that?”
“Yes,” she moaned, and tightened her thighs around his hips so her core fit tight against his cock, which had been freed from its denim prison. She could handle anything he dished out. She’d have sex with him anytime, anywhere, in any way he wanted to do it.
Later, she’d chastise herself for being such a pathetic doormat, but right now she just wanted to revel in how he made her feel. And right now, he was feeling her arms, sliding his fingers down the sensitive insides until he reached her rib cage. Tingles shivered over her skin, and they only intensified when he unbuttoned her shirt to expose her braless breasts to his gaze and his hands.
She bit her lip to keep from crying out when he rubbed slow circles around her nipples and then lowered his head to flick his tongue over the tightly pebbled tips.
“You like that,” he growled. “Say it. Tell me what you want.”
“Bite them,” she breathed. “And fill me. I need you inside me.”
A shudder shook his body, as though he was relieved to have been given the go-ahead. A stab of pain sliced through her as his teeth closed on one nipple, not hard, but with just enough pressure to enhance the pleasure of his shaft stretching her entrance as he slid home.
She tightened her thighs around his waist and arched up, taking all of him as deep as he could go. For a moment he remained still, using his teeth, tongue, and hands to create the most exquisite sensations in her breasts. But too soon, yet not soon enough, he stood straight, grasped her hips, and tugged her firmly against him. Her legs dangled over the side of the table, her butt just barely on the edge.
The vulnerability of this position was breathtaking, her skirt bunched around her waist, her breasts exposed, her arms still over her head because she dare not move them. Not while he watched her with a commanding expression on his face, the orders issued through his gaze alone.
Heat from the candle flames licked her skin, tiny flicks of warmth. She longed to feel Kynan’s tongue licking her like that, swirling around her navel piercing, tracing the long-stemmed rose tattoo on her leg, stroking between her legs.
But she didn’t think she could ever ask for that. She might possess self-confidence when it came to her job, but her sexual inexperience made her too shy in the bedroom.
Closing her eyes, she rolled her hips, smiling at the sudden hiss of air between his teeth. “You’re wanting to come already?” His thumb spread her folds and found that sweet spot that made her cry out. “Can’t wait, huh?” His hips pumped once, twice, bringing her to the edge.
“God, yes,” she gasped.
“I want to make you come over and over. Every day.” His voice was husky, smoky, and she wondered what it would feel like if he spoke against her aching core.
“Oh, yes… Kynan… now.”
As though a dam had broken, he began to pound into her, at the same time he slid her back and forth on the polished tabletop. The friction burned her back, candle wax sprinkled onto her belly and breasts, and lust blazed between her legs.
His pace became furious, and the wet sound of their bodies colliding became a trigger for that most primitive response for any human or demon. Release blasted through her, rocking her so hard that one of the candles tipped over, splashing hot wax across her ribs even as Kynan’s hot semen splashed inside her.
It struck her then that he’d not used a condom.
She was on the Pill, thank God. She wasn’t worried about disease. She was much more worried about accidental pregnancy. Any child born to her and a human would be three-quarters human, one-quarter demon, and, to many, an abomination.
Though she could scarcely breathe, she managed to lift her upper body enough to prop herself on her elbows. She and Kynan were still locked together. He stood between her legs, head hanging, chest heaving with the force of his breaths. His sweater had ridden up, revealing a holster beneath. He was armed, ready for a fight.
“Shit,” he breathed. “Condom.”
“I’m on the Pill.”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t wait. The thought of that… guy… touching you—”
“What guy?”
“Last night. I saw you with someone in the hospital parking lot.”
Bitterness welled up, ruining her postcoital glow. “Lore? So that was what this was about? You were jealous?”
In the dim light cast by the candles, she saw his expression turn savage. “What were you thinking? The guy is a demon—”
“And that’s none of your business.” She shoved at his chest hard enough to make him step back, and she nearly cried out at the loss, the emptiness. “You gave up the right to be jealous when you dumped me.”
“That’s not how it was.” His voice was hard and his jaw was tight as he tucked himself back into his pants so quickly that in seconds she never would have known they’d just had incredible sex.
Except she was still exposed, half-naked. Awkwardly, she yanked down her skirt and tugged her shirt together to cover her breasts. “No? That’s how it was to me. And this?” She gestured between them. “This wasn’t making love. This was a jealous
y fuck. A year ago, that would have been enough for me, but not anymore. So get out.”
“Gem—”
“Get. Out!”
He regarded her with shuttered eyes, his frustration obvious in the taut lines of his body. For a second she thought he’d argue, but then he stalked to the door and whipped it open. She hadn’t thought he could hurt her more than when he’d given her the kiss-off through Runa, but as he closed the door behind him, she realized she was wrong.
So very wrong.
That could have gone better, Kynan thought, as he walked down the hallway of Gem’s apartment building
He scrubbed his hand over his face and tried to tell himself that he wasn’t the world’s biggest bastard.
Liar.
He’d come over here to talk, to be seductive and romantic… and instead he’d treated Gem like she was a sex toy. He’d wanted her, he’d been jealous, and selfishly, he’d acted on impulse.
He turned around and stared at her door, tempted to go back and explain. Apologize. Except she was seriously worked up, and he doubted he’d get far.
He was such an asshole.
Asshole doesn’t cover it, asshole.
Cursing, he spun around and headed for the elevator. He was staying with Eidolon and Tayla, because although he’d prefer a hotel room, Tay had insisted. Besides, staying with them gave all of them an opportunity to catch up and compare notes on the recent happenings on Earth and in Sheoul.
He wondered if Gem knew he was staying with her sister.
Him and his hero complex.
Okay, that was a fair assessment. But his complex wasn’t about accolades or the happy-happy feeling that came from rescuing kittens in trees or parachuting into war zones to save downed soldiers. He didn’t care if anyone knew the good he’d done. He just needed to do it. To make a difference.
Sure, he could make a difference on the streets as a paramedic or a cop. He could re-enlist and make a difference by patching up injured troops. But deep down, he’d always wanted to do things on a grander scale. Which meant saving not a few men, but mankind as a race.
That was a big fucking joke, because he couldn’t save himself, let alone mankind.
He made it to the elevator, punched the Down button, and a moment later the doors slid open. The bastard Gem had been with last night stepped out.
Territorial rage spun up faster than a spring storm, and Kynan moved to block the guy. “Lore, right?”
The male narrowed his dark eyes. “Who are you?”
I’m the man who is going to sever your head from your body, demon.
Kynan reached automatically for the dagger tucked inside his jacket pocket, but fumbled the hilt as Gem’s voice tripped through his head. You gave up the right to be jealous when you dumped me. This wasn’t making love. This was a jealousy fuck.
And wouldn’t killing her lover prove exactly what she’d said.
Though every instinct screamed at him to kill the demon in front of him, he drew his hand away from the weapon. “Who am I?” he asked calmly. “I’m your competition.”
Red rotating lights on the emergency room walls announced the arrival of Underworld General’s only working ambulance. The other had blown an engine this morning. Perfect. On top of the hospital’s woes, Eidolon had been sick with some sort of demon bug, and Shade seemed to have caught it as well
Wincing at his muscle aches, Eidolon donned a paper gown and finished gloving up as Shade and Luc rolled a stretcher laden with two hundred pounds of pregnant Suresh demon into the first trauma room. The female moaned and tossed her head, her black dreads smacking against equipment that threatened to topple.
“No progression of labor since we picked her up,” Shade said. “I can make the womb contract, but there seems to be a blockage.”
“Page Shakvhan.” Normally Eidolon wouldn’t require a female physician to handle a birth, but Sureshi females were notorious male-haters, and they responded much better to the same sex. How they ever managed to get pregnant was a mystery.
“I’ll clean up the rig,” Luc said, and slipped out of the room. The warg was a great paramedic in the field, but once he brought in a patient, he wanted nothing more to do with them.
The Suresh lifted her head and screamed, and blood gushed from between her muscular legs. Shade gripped her hand, his dermoire glowing as he channeled power into her. “It’s coming.”
“Hurts,” she moaned through clenched teeth.
“Guess we’re not waiting for Shakvhan.” Eidolon would have to take his chances with the female and hope she didn’t bite his arm off.
Quickly, he set up a sterile field. Shade assisted with towels as the female pushed, her contractions coming one on top of the other.
“There we go,” Eidolon breathed, as the infant’s head began to crown. It was big. Bigger than it should have been… and smoother. “Shade, contract the uterus.”
Shade moved his hand down the Suresh’s swollen stomach and closed his eyes. The female cried out and bore down.
The infant’s head emerged. Eidolon swore silently. This wasn’t a Sureshi baby, and he had a moment of both dread and joy at his sudden suspicion.
“You’re doing good, female,” he said. “Shade, one more.”
Another contraction rocked her, and the infant slid fully out, covered in blood and birth fluids, but the dermoire on the infant’s right arm confirmed his suspicions. Seminus demon. The mother was not going to be happy.
“Shade, I need you to take the infant.”
Surprise flickered in his brother’s dark eyes. This was only the second Seminus born at UG. The first, over ten years ago, had possessed the markings of one of the Seminus Council members, and the mother had wanted the infant. Eidolon had a feeling the Suresh would not. At least, she wouldn’t want to raise it. Eat it, maybe. Kill it, definitely.
“Where is it?” The female writhed on the table, trying to see her child.
Shade wrapped the squalling infant in a blanket and brought it around.
“That?” she roared. “That is what grew inside me? That parasite?” She snarled and swiped for it, but Shade stepped out of the way. The writing on the walls pulsed violently, and she yelped at the activation of the Haven spell. She held her head and panted through the pain, but she never stopped glaring at the baby. “Give it to me. I will take it outside and crush it.”
A low growl emanated from deep in Shade’s throat. “We will dispose of the infant.” He stalked off before the female could argue, but she cursed in a dozen different languages as Eidolon completed post-birth procedures.
When he was done, he found Shade with the baby in the nursery. He didn’t look up as Eidolon entered. “Congratulations, bro. You’re an uncle again.”
“What did you say?”
Shade fastened a diaper like a pro and turned to him, keeping one hand protectively on the baby’s belly. Shade had always been good with the young of any species, had practiced a lot with his sisters, but since becoming a father, he had developed an even stronger paternal instinct.
“This is Wraith’s offspring,” he said, and Eidolon missed a step as he approached the changing table.
“Interesting.” Eidolon ran his finger over the infant’s dermoire, pausing over the top mark, an hourglass at the base of his neck, the one that identified the father as Wraith.
“I’ve already called Runa. We’ll raise it as our own.”
“You plan to tell Wraith? Because for all his faults, he can count, and eventually he’ll figure out that you have four babies instead of three.”
Shade bundled the squirming infant in a blanket. “Yeah, he needs to know. And he should be the one to name it.”
Eidolon shook his head. “This is weird.”
Shade lifted the infant gently into his arms. “It’s never going to end, is it?” His gaze locked with Eidolon’s. “We’re never going to be done cleaning up Wraith’s messes.”
“He’s doing what our breed does after s’genesis.”
> “I’m not talking about populating the world with Seminus young.”
“I know.” Wraith had always been a troublemaker, and at one point, he’d nearly started a war between their species and vampires. Wreaking havoc was what he did best. “And it’s going to be even worse once he gets that charm.”
Shade looked down at the newborn. “Sometimes I think the only thing that keeps Wraith going is the idea that, eventually, someone or something is going to kill him. If he gets the charm, he won’t have that anymore. I don’t want to see him lose his mind like our father did. Like Roag did.”
“Like I almost did,” Eidolon said quietly. If not for Tayla, he’d have turned into a beast his brothers would have been forced to put down.
“We can’t give up hope.” Shade made some cooing noises at the baby and then looked up. “Wraith is full of surprises.”
“Yeah, but they usually aren’t good ones.” Eidolon rubbed the bridge of his nose as his persistent headache worsened. “Hey, you feeling any better?”
“I wish,” Shade said. “This morning my gut cramped so hard I think my spine cracked.”
“Are Runa and the kids okay?”
“They’re great. In fact, I haven’t seen anyone else who’s sick. Maybe this is a breed-specific bug?”
“Maybe.” But something about that wasn’t sitting right. Namely, they hadn’t been in contact with any other Sems. Wraith was getting worse, but that was because of the poison… “Oh… oh, fuck.”
“What?”
“I need to check on something. I’ll page you when I get a definitive answer.”
“E—”
Eidolon ignored Shade and jogged toward his office. He had a sinking feeling this wasn’t a bug. This was a cancer.
Twelve
Wraith spent a fitful night after Serena left his cabin. He’d been aroused to the point of pain, requiring an injection of Eidolon’s anti-libido drug, but that had only been a minor part of Wraith’s sleeplessness.
He hadn’t been able to get Serena out of his mind. Her voice, her scent, the sounds she made when she came. Gods, the feel of her slick honey on his fingers… he’d wanted to taste her and then bury himself so deep inside her she’d feel him there for weeks.