Hades (12 page)

Intrigued by this new experience, she committed everything to memory, like the way his muscles leaped under her touch. Like the way the water and suds sluiced over hard flesh that rolled with every one of his rapid breaths. Like the way his fingers dug into the stone wall as if he was trying desperately to hold himself upright.

“Cataclysm,” he said roughly. “This might not be the best idea.”

Pulse fluttering in her veins, she dropped her hands lower, skimming his buttocks as she scrubbed in wide circles.

“Why not?” She hoped her words came off as light and teasing, that the sound of the water hid the tremor of insecurity. What if he rejected her again?

Taking a deep breath, she went lower, so she was gliding the soap over his firm ass and hips.

“Because.”

His voice, husky and dripping with male need, made her bold. “That’s not a reason,” she murmured as she tucked the soap in the crack of his butt and slid her hand downward, her fingers reaching between his legs––

His hand snapped back to grasp her wrist, and then he was turning into her and pushing her back against the wall. “I think,” he said, as he pressed his body against hers, “that it’s my turn.”

Yes!
He did want her!

Dipping his head, he captured her mouth as he wrested the soap out of her hand. His kiss was hotter than the water pouring on them, and his hands, oh, sweet hell, his
hands
. They roamed her body with finesse, his touch alternating between light and firm, teasing and let’s-do-this-thing serious. Every pass of the soap over her breasts and buttocks made her groan, and when he dropped the bar and dipped his fingers between her legs, she cried out in relief and amazement. She’d never been touched so intimately before, but now she was glad she’d waited. Hell, she’d have happily given up her wings for this one, beautiful moment.

“You like this,” he said in a deep, guttural rasp. “I like it too. I shouldn’t, but I do.”

There was a strange note in his voice, a tortured thread of...regret? Before she could think too hard on that, he did something sinful to her clit, and she nearly came undone. His fingers slid back and forth between her folds, the pressure becoming firmer as her breath came faster. He changed the rhythm every few strokes to rub circles around her sensitive nub or to slide the pads of his fingers past her opening, hitting a sensitive spot she didn’t know she had.

“Please,” she begged, not even sure what she was begging for. She wanted everything he could possibly do to her, and thanks to Lilliana, Cat knew a
lot
of things were possible.

He smiled as he kissed a path from her mouth to her jaw and down her neck. Arching her back, she let her head fall against the stone wall to give him as much access as he wanted. He grunted in approval and nipped her throat, the tiny sting adding fuel to the fire that was building inside her.

Another pass of his fingers had her panting and pumping her hips into his hand. Then he slipped one inside her. Yes, oh, damn...
yes!

He worked her for a moment, wringing sighs and moans from her before adding another finger. The burn of her tissue stretching yielded to pleasure within a couple of heartbeats, and she surrendered herself to his masterful play.

His fingers pumped as his thumb circled her clit, and too soon she exploded, her first climax with a male coursing through her body in an uncontrolled free fall. When she still had her wings, she would sometimes climb high into the air, tuck in her wings, and let the fall take her skimming close to mountaintops and deep into canyons. The orgasm Hades gave her was like that. Freeing, life affirming...and dangerous.

She knew herself well enough to know that for her, sex and emotion would be tightly linked. It was a horrible character flaw, one that had the potential to hurt badly. She supposed it was a good thing Zhubaal had rejected her, but now she thought that maybe Hades should have, too.

He brought her down slowly, his touch growing lighter as she became sensitive to every waning sensation.

“You’re so beautiful.” His smoky voice rumbled through her like a second climax, sparking a new wave of pleasure skimming across her skin. “God, the sounds you make when you come.”

“I need to hear you,” she said, taking him in her fist. “Let me.”

He gasped, his body going rigid as she squeezed his erection. She’d never touched one before; she and Zhubaal hadn’t gotten this far. Not even close. The skin was so silky, the shaft textured with veins she wanted to trace with her tongue.

Suddenly, he seized her wrist and shoved her hand away. Confused, she glanced up at him. He didn’t meet her gaze as he backed out of there, leaving a trail of puddles on the wood floor. “I have to go.”

What the hell?

“Don’t do this again.” She shut off the water. “Please, Hades. What’s wrong?”

Someone knocked on the door, and she swore he jumped a foot in the air. “Who the fuck is it?” he yelled.

“Silth. I have news you’re going to want to hear.”

The urgency in Silth’s voice said the news wasn’t good, but Hades seemed relieved. Was he happy for an excuse to get out of the bedroom? “I’ll be out in a second.” He didn’t bother drying off, simply jammed his feet into his pants. He didn’t look at her as he said, “In this part of the Inner Sanctum, and only this part, you can clothe yourself in whatever you want, with just a thought. But the second you leave, the clothes will disappear.”

Cool, but clothes were the least of her concerns right now. “Can you slow down for a second?” She reached for one of the folded cloths on the shelf next to the shower. “We need to talk.”

“Talk,” he said sharply, “doesn’t seem to be what you want from me.” He held up the hand that had, just moments ago, given her so much pleasure. “I gave you what you wanted, didn’t I?”

Stung by his sudden, inexplicable anger, she lashed out. “No, you didn’t. Not even close. You think I sit around fantasizing about your
hand?
”

Said hand formed a fist at his side. “Sorry to disappoint, babe.” He yanked open the door with so much force that the iron handle broke. “But I’m sure Zhubaal will be happy to give you whatever it is you fantasize about.”

“Wow,” she said quietly. “I can see where your reputation as a master torturer comes from. You know exactly where to plunge your dagger, don’t you?”

He jerked as if she’d struck him, and then he stormed out, leaving her to her fantasies. Which, right at this minute, included smacking Hades in his stubborn, infuriating head.

Chapter Twelve

What the fuck have I done?

Snarling, Hades slammed the bedroom door and strode into the hut’s living room, his hard cock pinching in his pants and his regrets piling up with every step.

He never got this moody, but right now he was strung tighter than a vampire stretched on the Rack in the Rot’s dungeon. Sexual frustration combined with the anger from the situation with Cat and the bullshit going on in the Inner Sanctum had damned near reached critical levels. He considered himself to be a pretty laid-back, easygoing guy, especially for a fallen angel, but damn, when he was with Cat it was as if he was mining desires and emotions he’d kept buried, and now he’d hit a vein that ran thick with fury and hopelessness.

It had been centuries since he’d last succumbed to the kinds of feelings that usually signaled an impending catastrophic bout of self-destructiveness.

He either wanted to kill something, or he wanted to fuck something...and the latter something was Cat.

Stupid, Hades. It would be so fucking stupid to start a relationship that can’t go anywhere, not to mention the fact that Azagoth will break you in half like a wishbone
.

Oh, but didn’t he already board that stupid train when he made her the brunt of his anger at not being able to make love to her? She hadn’t deserved any of that. Then he’d made it worse by bringing up Zhubaal, which had only served to throw jealousy and shame into the toxic mix brewing inside him right now.

He’d hurt her when he’d sworn to protect her. He’d done what he did best; find a soft spot, slip a blade in it, and give it a good twist.

Fucking idiot.

Water dripped down his back, reminding him of how Cat’s gentle fingers had caressed him in the shower. He’d felt like a map and she was the explorer looking for interesting places to go. He’d wanted so badly to let her. Her touch was a gift, a connection he hadn’t had with anyone since before he fell. Even then, his relationships hadn’t been serious. He’d been young and impulsive, and females had been a fun distraction from his crappy job and his priggish, cold parents.

Since his fall, the few females he’d been with had been sexual partners and nothing more. How could they be anything more when the total of his time outside of Sheoul-gra could be measured in hours instead of days?

Gnashing his teeth, he stopped in front of Silth and tried to keep his tone civil. “What is it?”

“We captured the Orphmage who was holding the Unfallen female you rescued,” he said, and Hades’s heart leaped. Finally. Maybe he would get to kill someone after all.

“He’s alive, I take it.”

“Yes, sir.” Silth fingered the hilt of the sword at his hip, his chain mail armor tinkling softly as he moved. “We have him at the Rot. But I had a chance to interrogate him at the site where we captured him.”

“He talked?”

“After I reached into his chest cavity and started breaking off ribs.”

“Nice.” Hades nodded in approval. “So what did he say? Did you get the human?”

“No, sir. But he did say that when he jammed his staff into the Unfallen, he released an enchantment inside her.”

Hades’s heart stopped leaping. “Her name is Cat. And what kind of enchantment?”

“The kind that drains her life force.”

Oh, fuck. His heart started beating again, but in an erratic, schizy rhythm. “For what purpose?”

“To open holes in the barriers between the Inner Sanctum and Sheoul, as well as the barrier between the Sanctum and Sheoul-gra.”

Not unexpected, since demons were always trying to get out of the Inner Sanctum to wreak havoc as ghosts in both Sheoul and on Earth. But they’d been trying to do that for eons, so what made this attempt different?

“I’m still not clear on how that would work,” he said. “What role does the human play in this?”

“They’re draining him, too. Both the Unfallen, ah, Cat, and the human are timed to drain at the same time.”

Hades’s gut was starting to churn. “And how much time do we have before this event takes place?”

“Approximately twenty hours. But it could happen sooner if both the human and the Unfallen are beheaded simultaneously. When their souls flee their bodies, perforations will appear in the barriers, and demons will escape.”

Holy shitmonkeys. “Find a hellhound,” Hades said. “Quickly.”

Silth’s upper lip peeled back, revealing two shiny fangs. Like pretty much everyone else, he hated hellhounds. “Why must I track down one of those filthy mutts?”

“Because I need a message delivered to their king. Tell the hellhound that we need Cerberus’s help. We can use every hellhound they can spare to find the human.”

Silth’s curse told Hades exactly how he felt about dealing with the beasts. “And if that fails?”

“Then we’ll need the hellhounds to patrol the borders. We can’t let a single demon escape, let alone millions of them.”

And there was no way he could let Cat die.

“There’s one other thing, sir.”

Of course there was. “What is it?”

“The enchantment inside the Unfallen...it can be used to track her whereabouts.”

Mother. Fuck. “She can’t be left alone.”

“Do you want me to stay with her?”

Oh, hell, no. Silth was a nasty motherfucker, but he was movie-star handsome and had an insatiable sexual appetite. He wasn’t getting near Cat, who had shown herself to be very open about her own sexual appetites.

Gods, she was a dream female. Beautiful and kind, if a little reckless, and when it came to being physical, she wasn’t shy...and yet, there was that pesky innocence about her that intrigued him.

And made him crazy, as his outburst in the bedroom had proven.

“My lord?” Silth prompted, and Hades realized he’d gotten lost in his thoughts. “Shall I stay with her?”

“No,” Hades said quickly. “I’ve got it for now. Send the message to Cerberus, and then contact me once we have hellhounds searching the Rings. Cat can help look for the human, but I don’t want her out there until we have the hounds for protection.”

Silth gave a shallow bow and took off, leaving Hades to wonder what to do in the meantime.

One thing was certain, he wasn’t going to tell Cat any of this. She’d been through enough already. Now he had to figure out how to stay with her while not giving into his desire for her. Somehow, he had to pretend that being with her was easy, no big deal, when the truth was that being with her without being inside her might be the hardest thing he’d ever done.

Chapter Thirteen

The longer Hades was gone, the angrier Cat got.

Yes, she understood he was handling business. And given the state of...everything, it was probably serious business. But the way he’d backed out of the shower and run out of the room had been insulting. Of course, his insults had been insulting, too.

Was he playing a game with her? Was he getting a good laugh over the Unfallen panting after him while he remained distant? Was she just a toy for his amusement?

Cursing to herself, she finished drying with the rough linen cloth she’d assumed was meant to be a towel, and then she tried out the “thought clothes” Hades had mentioned. Instantly, she was clothed in jeans and a corset identical to the real ones on the bed. Huh. She changed the colors, turning the corset to bright orange and the jeans to black.

Neat.

But maybe she should try something different. Something that would knock Hades off balance. He thought she should go to Zhubaal to get what she wanted, so maybe she should show Hades exactly what he’d be missing.