Jasmine turned back toward the cliff. She’d ordered two of her demons to keep watch on the cave from the woods behind the entrance, but she needed to find a closer position to set her trap."I’m going to wait for the sun to rise."Without warning, Francisco was standing at her side, his head bent to whisper directly in her ear. "A small warning, Jasmine," he roared softly."The early bird doesn’t get the worm... she gets eaten by the big bad wolf."A wand of anxiousness lengthened her stomach before she pushed him away with a harsh burst of rage. "Just go, Francisco. And try not to screw this up. "Ignoring the threat glow in her eyes, Francisco swaggered across the canopy and, with one motion, leapt over the low wall. She heard the faint rasp of his landing in the alley behind the building, followed by the fading sound of footsteps. Waging war against the instinct to shift, Jasmine clenched her teeth and dug her nails into the palms of her hands. It was a meaningless endeavour, of c
Lily shivered. The thought of a powerful, predatory werewolf becoming unhinged wasn’t a pleasant one. Actually, it was downright dreadful. "Should I ask?"His attitude was grim. "No."Good enough for her. "So this Trevor chases them down and kills them?" she instead demanded."It’s his duty.""Lovely." With a frown, her attention shifted toward the nearby facility. At a distance, it looked as if it had once been a beautiful structure. Three stories, with a large patio on the ground level and a hallway with an ornamental fence running along the second floor, it spouted the kind of high-arched windows famous before air-conditioning and six fluted pillars that added an air of graceful importance. The twilight, however, couldn’t hide the proof that the red bricks were crumbling into slow oblivion and the windows were missing most of their leaves of glass."Why does he live out here in the middle of nowhere? Does he give the other... the hunting thingy thingy? I mean-"Alpha Rhye breathed
Although smaller in bulk than Rhye, Trevor was smooth and muscular, with the golden skin of his ancestors. His short black hair was shaved on the sides into a long Mohawk that he weaved to hang past his shoulders. His face was as hard as the rest of him, with faintly twisted eyes the precise color of warm darkness. Wearing nothing more than a pair of faded dark jean shorts, Trevor folded his arms over his bare chest and regarded Rhye with qualm."What are you doing here? The last I heard you were in the city, doing some billionaire thing that everyone hated, fucking your whores to death, and cloistered in your lair and ignoring your pack.""I don’t ignore them," Rhye denied with a fake smile. "It’s more of a mutual agreement that I shouldn’t bother to join the politics of the council but recently accepted their offer, not a bowling league."Trevor’s short, astounded chuckle did nothing to ease the threat condensing in the air."Hardly a shock. You never flirted well with others, Rhye.
Lily wasn’t happy as she allowed Rhye to steer her into the crumbling building. Perhaps it had something to do with the stink of rusting beds that had been loaded up into what had once been a front hallway. Or the plaster that rotted from the awning as they headed down the narrow flight of stairs to a basement that, frankly, was strange as hell. The tiny, cramped rooms they passed by, as well as the broken rods and walkers shoved in a warehouse compartment, edged toward a deserted old family's residence, but whatever fascination it once might have claimed had long ago receded into oblivion. Or perhaps it had something to do with the enormous, anxious werewolf who led them through the mouldy darkness. With only an old candle lamp to brighten the hallway. Oh, Trevor was melt-worthy. He was all smooth with darling eyes. Delicious tropical heat in a pair of low-riding jean shorts. But the demon in her wasn’t fooled by Trevor’s promise of heaven. Like Rhye, the werewolf carried the potent
Lily merely switched on the light when Rhye slid past her, his brows lifting as he prowled toward the round mattress covered in delicate satin that was reflected in the mirrors above it.It was like one large bachelor cushion cliché.Her cheeks simmered with an outrageous heat. “I can’t imagine why Trevor would need guest rooms. Who the hell would want to visit?”Rhye tugged open a drawer of the paint-dark nightstand. “Unlike you, little witch, most women find Trevor inexplicably charming. Even among werewolves, his status is that of a…”“Hellhound?”“Not the name I was looking for, but it’ll do.” Rhye grabbed a pair of handcuffs from the drawer and hung them from his finger. “Well, look at this beautiful thing.”“Jesus, what the hell was he thinking?” She grimaced as he surveyed her with a watchful manner. “Don’t even think about it.”His soft, almost palpable laughter feathered over her skin. “I don’t require playthings to pleasure a woman. Of course…”“I’ve seen enough.”Whirling o
Twenty miles from Trevor's den.The room was hot, too pungent, so hot he could hardly draw in a breath without scalding his lungs. It was small and had no windows or ventilation other than a small hole up near the ceiling. Most of the time, they kept a bright light on him, forcing him to stand for days, beating him when he toppled to the floor or just plain sat down out of defiance—well, more necessity than defiance, but they didn’t see it that way.Jason had been there for days now, with no end in sight. Alone. Always alone. Sometimes they brought in others and tormented them—he could hear the howls and the noises of barbarity, the screams, usually in another language—and he was certain he was the only werewolf hostage they had. It was possibly the reason they didn’t kill him.He wasn’t sure he could have kept his sanity without her—without Jessa's voice, so soft and melodic in his head, taking him to another place, telling him she was with him, sharing her mind so that he felt he wa
The demon warden smirked and moved toward him to spit in his face. Jason replied by yanking his head up and smashing it into the guard's nose, which broke it. At the same time, he struck the man in the crotch with his feet, allowing his arms to bear his weight. Jason crashed to the ground, his arms stretched and burning. The guard fought around for a few minutes, battling for air, while the second attacker ran over to throw another rope around Jason's ankles. Only the hard breathing of the vicious guard disturbed the silence. The demon guard got unhurriedly to his feet, his face a gloss of blood. He swore, jerking Jason by the feet and beginning to drag him across the stone ground to the door. He halted and cruelly planted a boot in Jason’s ribs before screaming at the other guard to help him. Blood and spit ran down his face and he kicked again at Jason’s head before once more yanking on his feet. Jason was hauled outside and through a yard to the back of an old beat-up automobile.
"I’m sorry, Jessa. Tell me I didn’t hurt you. I almost… Damn it," Jason wiped the sweat from his eyes, rubbing his palms over his face and then through his damp hair. "Hell. I could have killed you."She reached out a hand to him, but Jayson jerked away from her, backing to the other side of the bed, feet on the floor, hands still rubbing over his face in agitation."Jayson—""Don’t. Just fucking don’t. Out now.""I don’t think so." Temper hissed in Jessa’s voice, making him turn his head and meet her glittering gaze. "What did you say to me?" he asked, his own voice lowering, taking on an edge."You heard me very well, Jayson. I’m not leaving. You had a nightmare. A flashback. Whatever. It happened. We’ll deal with it."He glared at her. "Are you out of your mind, Jessa? I could have shoved that knife in your throat. Right then, at that moment, you were the enemy. You sat there looking at me, totally without defending yourself. You didn’t even put up your damn hands. Who does that, J
Shock at what she’d done had barely begun to flicker through her mind when she felt something heavy and oppressive build within her. A sudden, sharp pain in her chest had her crying out as something foreign inside her pulled tight, stretching like a rubber band. Oh, god, it hurts. It felt like every atom of her being was being simultaneously crushed and pulled to its breaking point. The foreign sensation grew stronger and heavier until it felt like she was being ripped apart. The agony was unreal. She tried to scream her pain, but her chest was caving in, and she couldn’t breathe. It was gathering her power. She could feel it, like a thorned vine, latching onto the tendrils; she could feel it squeezing them, choking them. With a violent, agonising wrench, it yanked her power back into her, the cold, burning pain of it tearing a ragged shriek from her throat. Like a hand swatting a fly, the whiplash of it folded her body in half and sent her hurtling toward the floor. Strong arms
Thighs clenching at the feel of it, so erotically foreign, yet so right, she writhed between kisses and moaned. In response, Rhye coils his tail around her leg, guiding her to widen her stance. He slipped a thigh between her legs at the same moment he cupped her breasts, as he sucked her earlobe into his mouth. Moaning in delight... "Oh, God..." Livia growled.The multitude of sensations had her crying out into Rhye’s mouth. Pressing her breasts into his hands, she ground down against his thigh, needing the pressure where she was so wet and swollen for him.Like an extra set of arms, she felt him wrap his majestic tail around her, enclosing her in a cocoon of warmth, safety, and need. Even with her eyes closed, she knew he didn’t surround her completely. She didn’t have to wonder why. The knowledge that he’d left a gap so she could breathe and her inner demon could watch unimpeded had a new rush of wetness slicking her core. It was like she had been transported to a different dimensio
That was enough to snap her out of the trance.Unsure if she was more freaked out about being hypnotized by a fucking tail, or charmed that it seemed to like her, she pet it in return, carefully stroking a fingertip lightly over the spade tip.If it were possible, her eyes would have widened even more at the shiver working through Rhye.Did he like that?Oh, how she wanted to play and find out.Soon, it retreated, and Livia marvelled at all three men as she really, truly realised that they weren’t humans. They were predators and, unlike humans, had the features necessary to both lure in prey and kill it. Joseph’s eyes, Rhye’s tail—they were all mesmerising."Like cuttlefish," she muttered under her breath.Rhye zeroed in on her and cocked his head. "What’s that?""Oh, nothing." Peering up at Rhye, she prompted, "You wanted to ask something earlier?"The alpha gave her a look that said he knew she was intentionally redirecting the conversation but that he was going with it. "How did it
The words escaped without thought, but she didn’t have the mental capacity to regret them, even when the room was suddenly full of low, masculine laughter."Does that mean you think I’m pretty, too?" Leon rumbled, his eyes, now a vivid purple, sparkling—literally sparkling—as though they were dotted with a thousand tiny stars.His voice had already been deep, but now it was even more so. The gravelly, bass sound vibrated through her like distant thunder but was also creepy at the same time, but Livia didn't show how scared she was of the two-headed wolf. There was something about Leon's wolf that made her shiver with fear. He was something else. There was darkness in him, and she could see it. Livia paused, seeing a vision of Leon killing Joseph in the subway, while Rhye was unconscious on his side. Livia gasped; anger settled over her, and rage throbbed in her like a heartbeat. Leon creeped into Joseph... He would kill him. Livia could feel it... She didn't have a choice but to use h
Livia frowned. She picked up on that apparently being a bad thing easily enough, but why he thought she would care was beyond her. When she voiced as much, he just blinked at her like she’d stunned him speechless; at first, she was sure.Peering between the two of them, she took in the tense set of their shoulders and the tightness in their expressions that lingered, despite her assurance that she didn’t care about their lack of purity.Deciding to fix the problem she’d inadvertently caused, Livia smiled softly at them. "I don’t care if you’re pure or as mixed as milk and coffee, but I’ve obviously stepped on a sore point, so I rescind my invitation." Hoping to lighten the mood, she ended with a haughty sniff and an imperious wave of her hand.Joseph’s eyes narrowed to suspicious slits. "Well! Now that you don’t want to see, I want to show you. What is this witchery?"Leon made a low sound and nodded, mimicking Joseph’s suspicious expression, though his grey eyes were dancing with amu
Speechless, Livia gaped at the beautiful monster before her. Drawn like a moth to a flame, she took a step closer, wanting, needing to see him, to touch him. She managed a single step before Rhye cursed, eyes wide and dark brows furrowed, as he stared down at himself."How the fuck did you do that?" he demanded, pinning her with a stunned look.God, but his eyes were unreal. Vibrant, ocean deep blue with a sunburst of bright green around the pupils. They were the eyes of a predator. Eyes of a pureblood alpha. She wanted to get lost in them, wanted to stare into them until she’d mapped every facet."I have no idea," she admitted with a slow shake of her head. At the disbelieving expression he gave her, she tried to think past the shock of seeing him and explained, "The heat of your power was starting to get painful, and then, all of a sudden, it felt like mine got pissed off and threw yours back at you.""You shouldn’t be capable of that," Rhye muttered, but it was said almost absently
The memory of the creepy, child-looking demon and the sensation of it sucking the power out of her, remembering how weak she’d felt afterward, sent a shiver down her spine and hardened her resolve. All her martial arts and self-defense training had been useless against the thrall it had used on her. She’d spent too long and worked too hard to not be a victim to give up on this now. Rhye smirked at her for the second time that day, setting a new record. His eyes shone with approval at the resolve in hers. “I can force your power out of you. If you’ll allow me to try,” he tacked on at the end. Livia appreciated the effort he was making to be more polite, now he knew she wasn’t a spy sent to surveil them. She just wasn’t sure how to react to this new Rhye. He’d gone from cold and dangerous to interested and almost nice. Almost. It was a jarring change. Seductive, dangerously enticing, and intriguing as hell, but still jarring. Livia glanced at them, gauging their reactions to his of
Cocking her head, Livia frowned at him. "I don’t understand." Her eyes went wide as it hit her. "Oh my god, I get it. So, if they make vampires popular in movies and books, demons will become stronger because more humans are glorifying them. Same for witches and werewolves and everything else, yes?""Exactly.""Holy shit. I wonder how much I affected them in my Twilight phase as a kid."Joseph growled, "Those fucking movies! The "vampire" and "werewolf" demons were out of control. The "underworld demons" were pissed. They’d been top dogs for most of what"—he glanced at Leon—"like the last thousand years?""Mm, thereabouts, yes.""Wait. Did I hear you say ‘top dogs’?" she asked, ignoring the twilight thing in favor of something more important."Yes, but now anymore," Leon nodded.“Spiteful little fuckers, really. And always hungry!” Joseph pointed to a few thin white scars crisscrossing the back of his hand, scars she’d somehow never noticed before. “They like people meat, and they are
"As Joseph said, it’s not exclusively a torture chamber, and it’s not used as such all that often. Only when we’re left with no other recourse," Rhye soothed with a small smile.Her gentle giant, the man who touched her with such tenderness and care, was talking about torturing people with about the same amount of contrition as confessing he didn’t always take the time to recycle.That wasn’t actually what shocked her, though. She knew they were on the dark grey side of the morality scale.When she continued to frown at him, he lifted a hand and cupped her cheek, looking suddenly unsure. "Does that bother you, Livia? Would it help to know we don’t hurt the innocent?"Rhye was very still at her back, she noticed. He hadn’t pulled away from her physically, but she could sense him closing off, could almost feel him pulling the cold, unfeeling mask back into place.Joseph, who’d strolled farther into the room, snorted. "Of course she knows that!" He stopped walking when she didn’t immedia