Awakened by a Demoness (10 page)

The gate wasn’t the only thing ahead of her.

Her heart hammered against her ribs.

No. No. No!

Rey turned to look at her.

The way his eyes landed on her, burning with gold fire, sent an unwanted shiver through her, and she couldn’t stop herself from wondering whether it was something darker and deeper than his usual irritation over her being near him that had triggered that look in his eyes.

Because it looked a whole fucking lot like arousal to her.

He raked his eyes over her, lingering on her breasts and then her hips, and his eyes darkened further, confirming her suspicions and sending her reeling.

By the Devil, the goody two-shoes angel really wanted her.

That persistent little voice started up again, whispering something she didn’t need a reminder about, because she could feel it as she looked at him. As he stared at her. It drummed in her blood, burned in her heart, something she could no longer deny even when she desperately wanted to.

Rey was her fated mate.

Rey couldn’t shake the dream he’d had of Asteria. It had woken him early and he had hit upon the idea of cutting off the half-breed at the entrance of the estate. The last thing he had expected was Asteria showing up, but the sight of her made his blood burn.

He blamed the dream and then her. It was all her fault.

He needed to complete his mission and get away from her, because he felt as if he was unravelling fast and he couldn’t hold himself together much longer.

He needed to return to Echelon HQ and get his head on straight, and his heart back in line.

Or maybe he just needed to deal with the demoness as he should have, obeying his instincts as an Echelon and eradicating her.

His right hand twitched, an urge to call his blade rushing through him. It would be so easy to cut her down where she stood staring at him. Just a single blow to her neck. That was all it would take.

God, he didn’t even need his blade.

Light glowed from his right wrist, bright in the corner of his vision, and Asteria looked there and backed away a step.

All he would have to do was grab her while his mark was active and she would burn for her sins, becoming ashes in mere seconds.

She turned fearful blue eyes on him and pain stabbed his chest, unfamiliar but so strong it robbed him of his breath. The light shining from the mark on his inside wrist faltered, the desire to use his gift against her shattering as he stared at her and realised something.

He couldn’t do it.

He couldn’t hurt her.

She had taunted, teased and provoked him no end since he had met her, and while the desire to deal with her had risen at times, he had never once surrendered to it. He had never really, truly desired to harm her.

His instincts as an Echelon said to cut her down, but his instincts as a male said to pull her close and keep her safe.

He shoved his fingers through his tangled blond hair and clawed it back, gritted his teeth and snarled a curse as she tore him in two, pulling him between polar desires.

Her expression softened, blue eyes holding a note of understanding, and in that moment he realised that she felt the same way as he did. She waged war against her instincts as a demon, the ones that no doubt pressed her to fight him because of what he was, when the rest of her desired him.

He looked down at his wrist, at the cross on it that glowed faintly in the morning light, cold stealing through his veins. He didn’t want to hurt her. His Echelon side did, the gift that had been given to him at birth, one he had never asked for. It had ruled him in the fae town, driving him to harm her, and he had fought it and tried to make her run because he didn’t want to hurt her. He never wanted to hurt her.

She taunted, teased and provoked him.

And he liked it.

He enjoyed the way she ruffled his feathers, the way she was always full of energy, tackled life with glee and reckless abandon rather than careful planning and consideration. He liked that she was the opposite to him. Wild. Untamed. Free.

How long had he felt fettered by his duty?

It had been everything to him for so long, and he had thought it was the most important thing in his life, that it satisfied him and he led a full existence, one with purpose and meaning because of it.

Until he had met her.

He stared at her, struggling to force that to sink in, and she stared right back at him, emotions drifting across her face, right there for him to see. Did he look the same? Did disbelief, fear and desire show in his eyes as they did in hers?

He wasn’t sure how to react to them or the revelation that had come over him. He wasn’t sure of anything anymore. He wasn’t even sure of his own damned name as he stared at her, lost in her endless blue eyes, watching the myriad of emotions playing out in them.

His name?

He frowned.

His name was Rey.

A name she had given him.

A name that had affected him, now felt as if it had been the magic word that had set him free of a captivity he had never been aware of in all his years serving Heaven. Many angels had turned their backs on their duties, many more had chosen to fall from grace entirely, but never one of the Echelon.

That wasn’t about to change now.

No matter what she made him feel, how she had turned his world on its axis and thrown him off course, he couldn’t turn his back on his duty. It burned in his heart, a bright and blinding light that guided him in the darkness of the world, gave him the strength to stride forwards and mete out justice to those who deserved to feel the edge of his blade or the fiery force of his gift.

His duty would always win over desire.

Desire was fleeting. Duty was forever.

He had been born to it, moulded and shaped by it, and he couldn’t change now. He wouldn’t.

The hope that had been building in Asteria’s eyes shattered as he clenched his fists and the mark on his wrist glowed brighter, sending warmth and comfort rushing through him, a reminder of what he was.

And what she was.

A demon.

Deceiving. Wicked. Unfaithful. No matter how different she felt to him, she was still one of that dangerous breed.

A breed that made sport of corrupting angels.

His Echelon instincts locked onto that, reinforced it until it was all he could think about as he stared at her, until it obliterated any trace of desire in his veins and any soft thoughts from his heart and his head.

She was trying to make him fall.

It was an act. A farce. A cruel and vicious plot to bring him to his knees and lure him into falling.

He flashed his teeth at her and shook his head, opened his mouth to tell her that he knew of her wicked plan and it wouldn’t work.

The wrought iron gates behind him squeaked.

He looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened as he saw the petite female there, her dark brown hair tied back into a tight ponytail and her chocolate eyes on the house beyond Asteria. They slowly slid towards him, growing enormous as they did so.

The half-breed.

He felt Asteria move on his senses, lunging towards the female.

An awareness rippled through him, one of his gifts triggering and screaming that the half-breed intended to attack. Time slowed as she reached into a brown leather satchel against her right hip and whipped her hand out again, throwing it forwards.

A glass orb flew at Asteria.

Rey threw himself between the missile and Asteria, knocking her aside. The potion exploded against his chest, soaked his black t-shirt in sweet smelling liquid, and he staggered back, senses and mind reeling as he tried to comprehend all the possibilities.

Angels were not immune to magic.

He yanked his t-shirt off over his head and used it to quickly dry his torso off, but his hands were shaking, slowing his progress, and his mind was already turning foggy. What spell had been in the canister?

He tried to recount the ones he knew, but a buzzing started in his mind, drowning out his thoughts. It slowly spread down his body, warming him in its wake, leaving him standing on the grass as the half-breed fled. He looked down at his bare chest, unsure what he had expected to see but surprised when his skin looked normal, not raw and burning as it felt.

He rubbed at it, but the persistent itch refused to go away. It sank deeper, making him twitch, filling him with a need he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

Until Asteria stepped into view, her mouth moving but no sound coming from it.

He swooped on that mouth, grabbing her around the nape of her neck and dragging her up against him as he claimed her lips. She struggled but he kissed her harder, drove his tongue between her lips and forced her to open to him and take his kiss. She melted then, a moan reaching him through the buzzing in his mind.

He tasted potion in the kiss, sweet and intoxicating, warming his lips and tongue as he deepened the kiss and sought more from Asteria.

Enough to sate the urgent need running rampant through his blood.

A low feral snarl escaped him when she pushed him back, breaking her mouth away from his, and her wide blue eyes spoke of surprise. Damn, that wicked growl had shocked him too, but he didn’t care. He was a beast. An animal. Everything in him said to claim this female in the most primal way possible.

She would belong to him.

He grabbed her arm, dragging her into the woods and ignoring her protests. Her words meant nothing. He was fine. In control. He knew what he needed, what she needed. It was time they stopped dancing around their desire and gave in to it.

He pulled her around in front of him and grabbed her hips, dropped his head and kissed her again. She was eager this time, not resisting him as he backed her towards the thick trunk of an oak deep in the forest. Silence reigned around them, his senses saying they were alone. No one would see.

He didn’t give a damn if they did. All that mattered was Asteria and this hunger raging like a wildfire inside him.

He groaned and slid his hands around her back, teased the small strip of it that was exposed between the bottom of her black corset and the waist of her tartan skirt. She moaned into his mouth as he stroked the line of her spine, marvelling at how soft her skin was beneath his touch. The feel of her only cranked him higher, until he was burning for her, on fire with a need only she could quench.

When her hands landed on his back, he shuddered and groaned, trembled right down to his bones. Was this what he had been missing all his life?

The way she skimmed her palms over his sides and up to his shoulders was bliss, so sensual that he forgot to keep kissing her and stood over her with his mouth against hers, his panted breaths breaking the silence. She stroked the lines where his wings hid and he tensed, barked out a grunt as tingles cascaded down his back and over his shoulders, and he re-evaluated his previous thought.
This
was bliss.

She teased the scars, her touch so light it drove him wild, propelling him towards the very edge of control, until he danced along the razor thin line between sanity and madness.

“Rey,” she murmured against his lips and he swooped on them again, kissing her so hard he felt sure he was going to hurt her and she would shove him away.

He pulled her closer, kissed her deeper, felt he would go mad if she tried to get away from him. He needed her. He had never needed anyone, but he needed her. She was vital, like air in his lungs or life in his breast.

Instead of pushing him away, she embraced him, in more ways than one.

She lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist, and the feel of her heels against his backside and her stockings against his bare hips shoved him firmly over the edge. The images she had put into his head returned, and this time he wanted to fulfil that wicked fantasy with her. He wanted to feel the spikes of her heels digging into his bare backside as he took her.

He lowered his hands to her bottom and groaned as he found the peachy globes were already bare. His cock throbbed hard against his jeans and he grunted, struggled to crush the need to thrust against her. He wanted to be inside her.

She broke away from his mouth and only drove him wilder as she kissed along his jaw, whispered naughty things against it about how incredible his body was and how she needed to feel him deep inside her.

He thought she was merely teasing him, pushing him closer to the edge, but when he adjusted his grip on her, he felt the evidence of her hunger. Warm liquid coated the tips of his fingers and he shuddered and moaned as he moved his left hand closer, brushing her plush lips.

Asteria shook and whimpered in his arms, lightly bit his shoulder. Her fingertips dug into his back and her legs tightened around him, pulling him closer.

“Rey,” she whispered, voice hoarse and thick with need. Desire that he could feel in her.

She wanted him inside her, but he refused to be rushed now, wanted to know the feel of her in reality.

He dipped his fingers between her folds and she arched against him, the back of her head striking the rough bark of the tree. He watched her face as he stroked the fingers of his left hand up to find the bundle of nerves he had teased and suckled in his dream. Her expression shifted between a frown and a sigh, alternating back and forth as he swirled his fingers around the tiny bud and then squeezed it.

Her teeth sank into her lower lip, tugged at it as she exhaled hard and writhed in his arms.

“Rey,” she pleaded but he denied her, too fascinated by the slippery hot feel of her and the way she reacted to his touch, the pleasure that he felt flowing through her, to surrender to his need to be inside her.

But that need was steadily growing again, making his cock painfully hard against his fly.

She tossed her head to her left and her horn clacked against the tree, drawing his focus to them.

He couldn’t resist the need that ran through him, gave in to the compulsion and lowered his head.

Ran his tongue along the smooth length of her right horn.

She barked out a moan and her nub quivered beneath his fingers, her hands going lax against his shoulders. The smell of her arousal grew stronger and he lowered his hand to her core, groaned as he found it was wetter now, trembling.