Abigail Jones (Chronicles of Abigail Jones #1) (29 page)

THIRTY-FIVE

"Hux, please, you're hurting me," I gasped.

His grip did not loosen. Without another word, he dragged me toward the gazebo, and I had no choice but to stumble behind. He grabbed me by the neck of my chemise and pushed my head toward the woman who lay as if sleeping on the grass next to gazebo steps. Freed from the evil force that had possessed her, she looked human once more. A line worried between her brows, and her head rolled from side to side, as if to escape a bad dream. Tears squeezed from my eyes and blurred my vision. "Hux, please don't. I—"

"Look at her." The quiet, menacing tone smeared fear over my insides. "Look at what you and your sisters did to her."

"No! I'm not ..." The words dried in my throat as I saw the disgust carved into his features. I reached out to touch his arm, and he flinched as if I was some terrible disease, some awful thing he could not bear to have near him. 'Twas my greatest nightmare come to life. He saw me as I truly was, and he was reviled.

Swallowing tears of pain, I fought against the burgeoning hopelessness. "Please listen. I love you, Hux. And if you have any love for me—if these past weeks together meant anything to you—you will give me a chance to explain."

Seeing the bleak set of his jaw, the quivering of his heavy shoulders, I realized the horrible conflict playing within him.

He did love me—and he believed my soul belonged in hell.

"Goddamn you, Abigail." Slowly, the grip on the back of my neck slackened. I saw his chest rise and fall in shallow movements, and the bitter torment on his face ripped at my heart. "Talk, then. Weave more lies for me—it matters not. Nothing does, not anymore."

"I am so s-sorry," I said brokenly. "I wanted to tell you earlier, but I was afraid. And I did not know what I was myself until you inadvertently told me that night in the stable."

"You expect me to believe that? You have possessed me since the first day I saw you, and, fool that I was, I let myself succumb to your power. I think I have always suspected what you are, but yet I let myself believe—how you must have laughed behind my back! You have played me like puppet, as Lilith did before you."

Trembling, I took a step back from the hell-fire leaping to life in his eyes. The back of my legs encountered the steps, and I scrambled backward, clumsily, into the gazebo. He followed me, each step marked by the ominous jangling of the chain bulging from his pocket. "Go on, then. Do your best to convince me. Tell me what it is you wish me to hear, my sweet lying Abigail."

"I have always known that I am d-different," I said on a stuttering breath. "That the women of my family carry a certain trait. An aberration that causes us to see terrible things. Visions of lust and carnage, the sort to make one think one is mad for no such evil could exist in reality."

"Not bad," he sneered. "So you
see
things that others do not. You see fucking and killing in these
visions
you have. Are you certain, my darling, that you are not simply watching your own self at work?"

My faltering footsteps echoed against the planks. "Up until that night in the stables, I never knew why I had those visions. For a long while, I thought myself mad. My own mother died in a lunatic asylum, driven to an early grave by the darkness that possessed her. I might have followed a similar path, had Aunt Agnes not protected me. She taught me to hide the madness, to control the trances with my mind so they would not take over my soul."

"Enough with the lies!" he snapped. He continued to advance, his eyes narrow, glowing slits, his powerful body coiled and ready for attack. "Tell me why you came to my house. Did Lilith send you? Did the devious bitch instruct you to finish me off once and for all?"

My shoulder blades collided against a column. I could retreat no further. But I didn't want to run, not anymore. I looked straight into the violent heart of the storm.

"I never knew of Lilith until you first told me of her," I said. "I never suspected that I might be ... related to her in any way until that night in the stables. When you told me that only demons could read each others' minds." A shuddering breath escaped me. "Then I suspected what I was, but I could not bear losing you. Please believe me, Hux, I love you so much—"

"
Love
me? Even if I was to believe this half-baked tale, by your own admission you have been lying to me for
weeks
." Looming over me, he set his hands on either side of my head. I was imprisoned by his large, muscled body and by my desperate need for him. "Fool that I was, I tried to court you. To seduce more than your body—God help me, I wanted your heart. Your trust." At his harsh, bitter laugh, I shrank against the wood. "All the while you have been deceiving me. Every kiss we shared, every moment of intimacy was a goddamned lie. With your delicate snare, you've destroyed me more than Lilith ever could. That was her plan, wasn't it? To torture me, to have you rip out the remnants of my humanity—"

My scalp rocked against the column in denial. "
No.
My love for you is real. I am not here because of Lilith. My ancestor was a Lilin, yes,"—I gulped as his nostrils flared—"but she broke from Lilith's fold. She did not want to be part of that evil."

"A Lilin abandon her creator? Now why would she do that?" he said scathingly.

"I do not know the entire tale, only that centuries ago one of Lilith's daughters betrayed her. She stole her mother's necklace because it offered a powerful protection. It shielded her against Lilith's powers." Hux's eyes shifted to the cross upon my bosom. Beneath his scrutiny, the exposed skin prickled with awareness. "Apparently the necklace also prevented Lilith from being able to track this daughter as she did all her others, and the Lilin thus escaped, never to return."

"And you happen to be a progeny of this virtuous, renegade Lilin. How exceptional," he said acidly. Though I feared his dangerous mood, I could not help the shiver of yearning as he cupped the back of my neck. His thumb pressed lightly, deliberately over the leaping pulse in front. "For someone who claims to have recently learned about her identity, you know a lot of your family history."

My breath hitched as his other hand came to rest insolently against the side of my breast. Beneath the thin linen, my nipples tightened and throbbed with aching need. It took an effort to regain focus, to speak. "I s-saw it in a vision tonight. When you left, I feared for your safety so I went to find the demon's hair ornament in the tower. You see, when I touch things that Lilin have touched, I can see into their minds ..." I bit back a moan as he fingered the cross, the sweep of his knuckles scorching my skin.

"Go on."

"I w-wanted to find out where you'd met her. I th-thought it might be the same place you'd go to hunt demons tonight. I came to help you ..." A whimper left me as he cupped my breast, his fingers tweaking the engorged point. "Hux, please—"

His face was dark and hard above mine. "Keep talking, Abigail. Keep trying to convince me of your innocence."

"I kn-know I should have told you the truth sooner. I wanted to, so many times. But I was a c-coward ..." Gasping, I felt his hard thigh wedge between my legs, grinding against a part of me that was shockingly hot and ready with desire. "I was sc-scared. I have never understood why you, who could have anyone, should care for me in the first place. If you knew the truth, I feared that you would hate me. That you would leave. And I would have to wake from the one good dream of my life—"

"This is what you dream of." In one swift motion, he hoisted me so that I was riding his leg. He insinuated himself deeper, grasping my hips and dragging my sensitive flesh against the tough sinewy ledge. A purr of pleasure scraped from my throat. I couldn't help it. His eyes knowing, he rocked me harder against him. "All Lilin want this, and you are no different."

"I am
not
a Lilin. Not in any true sense of the word." My voice sounded breathless, weak. His mocking touch spiked my pulse. His scent pooled my mouth with craving. Even the reality of danger could not stem the fierce arousal bubbling through my veins. "I abhor Lilith—and everything she stands for. I would rather die than do her bidding." In desperation, I grabbed the lapels of his jacket, pled with him, "Please believe me. I am still Abigail, your maid, your secretary, and your love—if you will still have me."

For a moment that stretched into an eternity, he said nothing. Merely probed my soul with unrelenting intensity. My heart thundering, I could not fathom what he was thinking, or what he felt. Then his mouth took on a sudden, sensual slant. "There's a way to know for certain what you are, Abigail Jones." Shuddering, I felt his thigh nudge higher. His lips found my throat, and the graze of teeth honed my desire. "One way for you to gain my trust again."

"Anything." Eyes closing, I could resist the sensual undertow no longer. I felt him remove my hands from where they still curled around his jacket, felt my body sliding, melting down the column. "I'll do anything to prove that I love—"

There was a jingling sound, smooth weight sliding around my wrists. My eyes popped open. In disbelief, I tugged at my arms. They did not budge. He'd bound them behind my back and was in process of securing them to the column.

"Wh-what are you doing?" I gasped.

I struggled, but the chain held me fast.

"Showing you the consequences of lying." The feral promise chased alarming thrills up my spine. "There is one test no Lilin can withstand. One surefire way to summon her true demon nature. In short, I'm going to fuck you, my sweet, so we both know for certain what you are."

"Hux, there's no need—" My voice broke off in a gasp as I heard the ripping of fabric. The night breeze wafted over my naked breasts. I caught the flash in his eyes before his mouth descended upon the heaving mounds. With absolute possession, he roved over the freed flesh. This was not the gentle touch I had known before; he cupped and kneaded me with rough hunger, licking, biting at the engorged tips.

I should have been frightened. I should have quailed at his aggression. Instead, molten excitement blasted through me, and, panting, I strained to press closer.

"Yes," he growled, working my nipple between his fingers. "You want this, don't you? You want me to take you, to fill that empty place between your legs. You cannot deny your need for me."

My whole body quaked with craving, with fierce love. "I don't deny it. Untie me, Hux. I love—"

His kiss cut me off. With primal intent, his tongue stabbed inside my mouth and lay claim to the vulnerable cavern. He held my head so I could not escape the sensual ambush. With lavish swipes, ravaging penetration, he possessed my breath, my senses. Helpless to his domination, I experienced a strange surge of carnal energy. The golden heat burgeoned from my core as he fed me his taste and his scent and still I wanted more. Frustration mounted as I rattled impotently against the chains.

His mouth slid against my ear. The sharp nip made me gasp, and wetness bloomed between my thighs. "I told you before. You cannot escape. Submit to me, show me what you really are."

"You know who I am," I managed to say. "A-Abigail—"

He shoved my skirts to my waist. I moaned as he found the ripe essence of me. "You're ready for me, aren't you?" His voice rasped my senses in concert with the slow, maddening play of his fingers. "That is the one thing you cannot hide. How hot and damp and eager to be fucked you are."

I did not recognize the sound that escaped me. He hitched one of my legs over his hip, giving himself full access to my most intimate place. I squirmed in that vulnerable position and tried to close my thighs. With a low laugh, he stroked me higher. He found that sensitive bud, circling it, teasing it until my limbs turned to water. Simultaneously, his fingers plunged inside. I gave a strangled moan. My quim fluttered and clenched around the pistoning onslaught.

It was too much. Not nearly enough. Writhing between the hard column and his harder frame, I knew nothing but my need for him. The world was dissolving into gilded flame. I could feel my lips shaping to shameless pleas.
Harder
...
faster
...
please help me, Hux
...
I'm so close, I need
...

All of the sudden, his fingers left me. A keening protest broke from my lips. I felt him tug between us and an instant later blunt, smooth heat nudged against my slick flesh. The pleasure shocked me all the way to my toes.

"I'll give you what you need. But first I want you to look at me, Abigail." Trembling all over, I obeyed and found myself drowning in violent blue. "I want to see your eyes when I make you mine."

His features harshly controlled, he thrust upward. I gasped at the pressure. Concern flared as the sensation stretched beyond pleasure. My fingernails dug into wood. He impelled deeper, pushing out my breath, my sense of reality, everything but my awareness of his possession. Of the hardness driving to the center of my being. Dizzily, I blinked into his dilated eyes. "Hux, I'm not sure I can—"

"You can," he rasped and edged in deeper.

My eyes widened as my flesh yielded to his. As stinging gave way to throbbing fullness. He pushed even higher, and my breath hitched at the sudden exquisite sensation.

"That's the way." Watching my reaction, he seated himself deeper still. His jaw tautened, and he was the one to break our gaze when his eyes closed suddenly, his brow furrowing as if he was in pain. "God, you're so tight. You feel so ... let me in, I have to be inside ..."

Hearing the hoarse need in his voice, seeing the pleasure flush on his cheeks, I felt a jarring certainty. An anchoring of love. And trust. Oddly enough, I knew in that moment that despite his fury, he would not hurt me. He could not—because he loved me. So with a tremulous breath, I gave him what he asked. What we both wanted. On instinct, I tilted my hips, and we both gasped as he slid fully, irrevocably home.

The stunning sense of wholeness drew a shaky whisper from me. "You're inside me now." I felt the potent leap of his flesh within mine, and the devastating intimacy clogged my throat. "I'm holding you as I've dreamed of doing. I'm loving you, Hux, with my body and my soul."