Touch of the Angel (Demons of Infernum, #3) (10 page)

“Amara, no one escapes the reach of the Council. Not forever, anyway.”

Her bitter laugh washed over him. “No, you misunderstand. There
is
something left for me there.”

Ronin frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Not something. Some
one
.”

“Who?”

Amara’s chest heaved on her next breath, her reawakening anger lending strength to her spine. “Asmodeus has my mother.”

Chapter Eight

The way Ronin stared at Amara, his mouth open like a fish, made her well aware of how much she’d shocked him. She hadn’t meant to confide in him, but she hadn’t been able to hold back any longer.

“Asmodeus has your
mother
?” he finally said. “How?”

She flinched and averted her eyes. Even though she’d chosen to tell him about Solara, he couldn’t know the
whole
truth about how her mother had become imprisoned. He would be so disgusted with her.

How could he not? She hated herself. It was all her fault.

Amara shook her head. “That’s not important, is it? What matters are the things he’ll do to her if I don’t return. And not just her. There are other succubi there, too. They’re good women. They don’t deserve to suffer his wrath.”

“Oh, hell,” he choked out, empathy pouring from him in waves. “I’m so sorry, Amara.”

The room suddenly felt too small and confining. She stood and crossed over to the windows, drawing one of the shades to the side so she could peek out at the early-morning scene. Bumper-to-bumper traffic lined the streets below, and the occasional human could be seen through the windows of the neighboring building, rushing here and there as if getting ready for a hectic workday.

“That’s how he binds you to him?” he asked. “By using your mother?”

“That’s how he
bound
me to him. Past tense.”

“What do you mean?”

The curtain fell back into place as she turned to face him. She held out her wrist. “The band. It’s enchanted.”

He rose and took her hand, examining the unassuming gold bangle. “You can’t remove it?”

She twisted her lips into a pained smile. “Try it.”

When he closed his fingers around the surface and tried to slide it off her wrist, nothing happened. It didn’t even budge.

“Does it hurt?” he asked.

“Only when I’m hungry, or in distress.” Or when Asmodeus was angry with her.

He frowned. “At Opiate. When I grabbed your hand as you were trying to leave, it felt worse than it does now. Freezing cold.”

Amara ducked her head. “I was
starved
, and I was upset. I could feel myself losing control.” She hadn’t wanted to hurt him. That had been the last thing she wanted.

Ronin tilted her chin up and forced her to meet his eyes. “What does it do?”

Not only what it
did
but what it
was
. A mark of Asmodeus’s ownership.

“He can control me through it,” she whispered. “The bracelet was created by a dark fae, one with very powerful magical abilities. He’s the same person who put that shield up over Asmodeus’s townhouse. When I swore my oath of fealty to Asmodeus in exchange for his agreement to leave my mother alone, he placed this band on my wrist and it fused to my skin. There’s some sort of connection between this band and one that he wears. He can sense things about me. I don’t know what or how. But he told me once he can track me through it. If that’s true, he may discover you’re hunting him.”

“Let him,” he said with a snort. “That won’t change the fact that we’re going to capture his sorry ass.”

“That’s a noble stance, especially when it concerns someone like him.” She stared deep into his eyes, imploring him to understand. “He’s dangerous, Ronin. Evil. You don’t even know how much. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

He lifted a hand to her cheek and caressed her skin. “Don’t worry about me.”

Something passed between them, heavy, complex, and painfully arousing. When her womb clenched, she fought back a hungry moan.

Ronin cleared his throat. “What else does this band do?”

“It also...” She hesitated.

“What?”

She had to tell him. He was in danger. “He can use it to speed up the draining of my life essence.”

Ronin’s fingers tightened on her wrist. “Why would he do that to you?”

“Isn’t obvious?” Bitter anger washed through her, and she wrenched her hand away. “The less time we have between feedings, the more motivated we are to complete our assignments.”

Ronin’s brows knitted together and the muscles in his jaw tightened. “Forget turning him in to the Council. I’m going to kill the bastard.”

That was sweet of him to say, and part of her rejoiced at the thought of Ronin ending Asmodeus’s miserable existence. But they both knew that wasn’t going to happen. He couldn’t disobey a Council directive.

“How long do you have?” When she didn’t respond, Ronin closed his hands over her shoulders and forced her to look at him. “I said, how long?”

“Under a week.”

“Shit.” He released her and momentarily closed his eyes before focusing in on her again. “How long will foreplay delay your need for sex?”

The unexpected shock of his words almost made her jump. Was he seriously considering this? The thought made her nipples tighten and her body spasm in a cross between hunger and anticipation. She couldn’t expect he would be willing, not after all the damage she’d done to him. Still, she couldn’t stop the quiver of hope in her voice. “A few hours. A day, tops, if there’s a lot of it. It mostly, um...takes the edge off the hunger.”

She could see him processing her words, and she knew the exact moment when he’d come to a decision. He reached for her, his throat working in apparent nervousness.

Oh, hell. She wanted him almost as badly as she feared for his safety. Almost.

Amara opened her mouth to tell him no. What came out instead was the heated whisper of his name.

§

The fact that Amara had actually colored when Ronin mentioned foreplay astounded him. He’d thought that, given what she was, she might be jaded when it came to the topic. But maybe, like him, she was finding a lot of new ground in what was happening here between them. No doubt they were in unfamiliar territory.

Amara licked her full, plush lips. That she was clearly imagining them in bed together nearly tore a groan from his throat. A barrage of memories assaulted him. The strong scent of her desire. The silky heat of her body. The way she had clenched around him, squeezing him to eye-rolling ecstasy.

In all his life, he’d never had a comparison for those few minutes of bliss he’d spent with Amara. What he wouldn’t give to be inside her again. To experience even one more moment of that particular brand of heaven. Impossible. Her touch was deadly.

Except it wasn’t her touch. Not really. Yes, the chemicals her body secreted when she grew aroused were fatal to all but other sex demons. Sex—hell, even going down on her—was off-limits, and that was a damn shame. He’d give anything to know if she tasted as good as she smelled. Even though that wasn’t going to happen, it didn’t mean he couldn’t touch her. The minute amounts of poison that seeped in through the pores of his fingers shouldn’t be enough to harm him.

Right now, he wanted to touch Amara more than anything. And if it would give her even a moment of relief from the gnawing hunger that must be eating away at her?

Well, that was icing on the cake.

His intentions must have read clearly on his face, because her chest rose and fell and her eyes heated with unmistakable arousal. When she spoke his name, the tremor in her voice stoked a pool of liquid desire in his groin.

“Amara,” he breathed. Before she could say anything else, he crushed her to him, covering her lips with his. She growled deep in her throat and slid her tongue along his lips before thrusting it inside. Taking his mouth in a deep, passionate kiss that brought to mind the demanding way she’d ridden his body that night. On and on the kiss went, until it seemed as if nothing existed but the contact of their bodies. He moved his hands down her back, cupping the perfect ass that had been exposed when her dress rode up her body. Then he slid a finger along the seam, trailing downward.

She tore her mouth from his. When she tried to jerk out of his grasp, he tightened his hold on her.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Her eyes squeezed shut as if she was in pain. “We have to stop. I...don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t,” he whispered.

“I almost killed you last time. What are the odds we’ll get lucky a second time around?”

“I didn’t know what to expect the first time. I’m stronger than you. I’ll make sure we don’t go too far.”

She appeared doubtful. “I don’t know.”

“Amara, please. Let me do this for you. I want you.”

The last of her resistance melted away. She brought her hands to his cheeks and tugged his head down for another kiss.

Yes
. He could do this. Bring her to ecstasy without taking anything in return. It wasn’t a permanent fix, or even anything that would last more than a few hours. But it was
something
he could give her. And he somehow thought he’d treasure these moments with her for the rest of his life. No matter the consequences.

§

She had to keep control. Ronin made Amara want to lose herself, but making a mistake like that could prove fatal the second time around. So she focused all her energy on this
one
kiss. This very moment. There didn’t have to be anything more. And if her body burned for his touch, if she ached to be filled by him, well, she didn’t have to give in to that base instinct. She was a person, not an animal.

Not a monster.

Ronin lifted her and headed for the bed. She wrapped her arms around his neck and focused on the feel of him. His hair—soft and silky where it made contact with her flesh. His skin—like satin over steel. Though his height lent him the appearance of lankiness, with his shirt off it was clear the man was two hundred-plus pounds of solid muscle.

Half demon, half angel
. Who would have thought the combination would be so incredibly appealing?

He came to a standstill by the bed, sliding her down the length of his body. His heavy erection practically seared her body through the fabric of his bottoms and her dress. How she wished there were nothing to separate their bodies. But that couldn’t be. Too dangerous. As delectable as Ronin was, they were one hundred percent incompatible.

“You’re so beautiful.”

When his fingers grasped the hem of her dress and he started to drag it upward, she stopped him. While she still could. “No, we shouldn’t.”

“Shush. I’ll keep control for both of us, remember?”

If only she could trust that he would. Taking a gamble with his life seemed far too risky. But then a sliver of calm radiated from his body, easing her fears. He slid the small slip fabric up her torso and completely off her. When the cool night air hit her, she shivered. Then his mouth closed on hers at the same time his palm cupped one of her breasts, and she was gone. She arched into his touch and one of her hands brushed against his thick erection.

He groaned into her mouth and pulled her hand away, guiding her back onto the bed. Oh, he felt so hot and heavy and
amazing
lying on top of her. Even the soft cotton of his pajama pants fed her arousal. She tangled her fingers in his hair and focused on kissing him, sucking his tongue into her mouth and then feeding him hers. She positively ached. Acting on pure instinct, she spread her legs along either side of him and wrapped them around his waist. Then she slid her foot up and down the leg of his bottoms, pressing into him all the while. He fit so snugly against her and, if she moved just
right
, she could almost imagine he was inside her, thrusting home.

Oh hell, she was losing control. She could feel it slipping away, like an elusive butterfly riding on a soft summer breeze. Her body’s cravings were too strong to ignore.

“Ronin...”

He understood the plea she couldn’t even summon the strength to utter, because he dragged her arms over her head, closing one hand over both her wrists to trap them there. His lips traveled down from her mouth to close over one breast, then the other. While he gently nipped on them, his free hand moved between her thighs.

This was more amazing than she could’ve imagined. She moved against his questing fingers, which grew slick from her desire. One of his thick, long fingers penetrated her. He must have sensed how ready she was, how rough she needed it, because he didn’t waste his time being gentle. Instead he withdrew, only to thrust back in with two. At the same time he sucked hard on her breast, closing his teeth around the nipple and biting down lightly.

Her climax was swift and furious, bringing with it a burst of energy that temporarily soothed the ache in her stomach. She bit her lip to keep from crying out.

With a soft exhalation, Ronin moved up to capture her lips in another kiss. His fingers continued their relentless pumping, and he used his thumb to stroke her clit. Soon enough she felt herself moving under him once again. Rising up to meet the hard thrusts of his fingers. When her legs started to shake with the force of another impending orgasm, he tightened his hold on her wrists, effectively imprisoning her. This time she came on a shocking burst of white that left her temporarily senseless and totally breathless.

He groaned and slid his tongue between her lips, stroking her tongue with his. At the same time he pressed tight against her, his movements growing jerky. His whole body shook. Amara undulated against him while he rode out his climax and tried to catch her breath. It was harder than she would have imagined.

That had been some of the most amazing sex she’d ever had, and it wasn’t even real sex.

“You okay?” he finally whispered against her lips.

“Yes.” She was better than okay, actually. Sated, for the moment. Serene. Though she knew it wouldn’t last. “I’m wonderful.”

“Good.” He touched his lips to hers. “Be right back.”

“Mm-kay.” The day’s events, compounded with the restless sleep she’d gotten all week, were starting to catch up with her. Amara’s eyelids began to grow heavy. She stifled a yawn.

After a few minutes, Ronin walked back in from the adjoining bathroom. He crawled onto the bed and wrapped his arms around her. “Get some sleep.”

“No, I...” Her eyelids closed, and an instant later, she was out.

§

Ronin stood on the spacious terrace of Keegan’s apartment and observed the tiny flecks of snow raining down. They had started no more than an hour ago and now, close to sunset, the snowfall had picked up speed. The chill of the flakes was refreshing against his lightweight sweater and blue jeans. He turned the tumbler of whiskey in his hand, his mind back on his apartment.