Authors: Jocelyn Dex
Book 3 in the Sempire Seductions
series.
Navine is suffering Incubus
addiction--a death sentence for any
Sempire
. When the search for a cure
turns up only one rumor, Navine is horrified to learn the mutant Fin might be
her only chance to live. Fearing the taint of the mutant more than fearing
death, she continues to push him away as she tries to deny how his touch
inflames her.
Fin is captivated by Navine the
first moment their gazes lock, but when she realized what he was--a male
Sempire
,
an abomination--she rejected him. Fin is burning with the need to touch her,
taste her and he’ll do almost anything to save her.
With time running out, passion must
overcome prejudice to save Navine’s life and to grant Fin’s fantasy.
A Romantica®
paranormal erotic romance
from Ellora’s
Cave
Dedication
This one’s for my puppies.
Writing wouldn’t be nearly as fun without all your furry,
warm bodies cuddled around me.
Skinny, fat, big and small.
I love my herd.
Snotty noses, stinky farts and all.
Acknowledgements
A huge thanks to my editor, Briana!
Thank you for believing in the idea of
Sempires
, for
your great feedback and helping me make the books the best they can be.
Electricity danced through the air as the witch flung her
hands above her head and chanted words Fin didn’t understand. Talith, Fin’s
mother, had contracted the witch to put Navine in stasis while they searched
frantically for a cure for her Incubus addiction. If they hadn’t, she’d be dead
by now.
Several minutes passed, the chanting louder, tension reaching
a crescendo, making Fin’s skin crawl with anticipation. Suddenly her arms
dropped, palms slapping against her hips. When the electricity subsided, the
witch turned to Talith, nodded and exited the room without a word.
Fin’s chest constricted as Navine’s eyes opened for the
first time in two weeks. He knew he should have left the room before she woke,
but his desire to see her sparkling gold eyes again kept his feet planted. She
hated him, was disgusted by what he was—a
Sempire
, a
male
Sempire
,
an abomination—but she captivated him all the same.
As Navine’s eyes fluttered open and focused, she smiled
warmly at her brother who sat at her side, holding her hand. As soon as she
spotted Fin, she scowled and demanded, “Get him out of here!”
Fin flinched at the disgust in her tone, set down the cherry
smoothie he’d made for her and left the room without a word. His sisters, Valia
and Araya, followed him, each grabbing an arm and hugging up to him in the
hallway.
“She’s such a twat,” Valia said.
His sister definitely had a way with words and Fin smiled at
her even though he felt more like putting his fist through a wall.
Araya, the more levelheaded of his sisters said, “She’s not
a
twat
. She’s just scared. And she doesn’t know how great Fin is, once
she does, she’ll get past the whole male
Sempire
thing.”
Valia snorted. “If the twat wants to live, she’ll get over
it fast.”
Fin blew out a breath. As far as finding a cure for a
Sempire’s
addiction to Incubus semen, they’d only come across one rumor. A rumor that
made him cringe because he could imagine Navine’s reaction to it—outrage,
disgust, hysterics.
Supposedly, feeding on the semen of a male
Sempire
would
break the addiction, but no one knew if it was true. As far as they all knew,
Fin was the only male
Sempire
alive, because being considered mutant
abominations, male
Sempires
were always killed at birth. Fin’s mother
had spared him and hidden his identity from everyone. Even from his sisters.
They’d thought of him as the mansion’s chef and as a friend up until two weeks
ago when he’d finally gotten tired of living a lie and told them who and what
he really was.
They’d been shocked, but thankfully they hadn’t shunned him.
They’d accepted him and seemed genuinely thrilled that he was their brother.
“I’d hoped her two week nap would chill her out a little,”
Fin said, as they took the winding staircase downstairs.
“I’ll try to talk to her again,” Araya offered.
Navine had taken to Araya more than any of them, which wasn’t
saying much, before they’d put her in stasis. But Fin didn’t think the two-hour
friendly chat they’d had would qualify Araya to talk Navine into accepting an
abomination’s semen.
They walked into the kitchen and found Kean and Rydin
digging in the fridge. Kean was Araya’s part-Incubus fiancé and Rydin was Valia’s
Ferox
demon lover.
Valia skipped over and jumped on Rydin’s back. “Whatcha doin’
Rydie?”
“Looking for food. How’d the female take the news?”
Fin answered. “We left before Baden broke it to her.”
Valia slid off Rydin’s back and pouted. “She’s a twat. She
yelled at Fin again.”
Kean choked on the boiled egg he was swallowing. “Twat?
Nice.”
Valia shrugged, “If the vagina synonym fits…”
“Why don’t you guys quit messing up my fridge and I’ll make
you something to eat. Just let me know what you want,” Fin offered. He’d been
the family chef for somewhere around sixty years now.
Normal Sempires
only
fed on fruit and semen but Fin was capable of surviving on regular food.
Rydin and Kean both said “steak” at the same time.
“You want a baked potato, french fries or rice pilaf to go
with it?”
Rydin said fries, Kean said baked potato.
“Aw man,” Kean said, “I thought we had a thing going there
for a second.”
Rydin shrugged, “I haven’t eaten a french fry in years.
Sounded good.”
“How about a vegetable? We have fresh squash and asparagus.”
They looked at each other, Kean with a grin on his face. “Asparagus,”
Kean said.
Rydin looked disconcerted. “I’ve never eaten either.
Surprise me.”
“What? How is that possible?” Kean asked.
“I lived in the demon realm for many years with limited
trips to the human realm. Sampling squash and asparagus wasn’t high on my
priority list.”
Fin chimed in. “Then I’ll make both.”
Araya hugged Fin. “See, you’re such a good male, Navine will
warm up to you.”
He appreciated his sister’s support, but yeah, he didn’t
think so. “You want a fruit plate?”
“Mmm,” she said. “Yep, but I’ll throw it together so you can
concentrate on the,” she crinkled her nose, “other stuff.”
* * * * *
Everyone was sitting down to eat in the dining hall when Baden
strode in looking glum. He shot Rydin a shitty glare as he took a seat beside
Fin. Baden hadn’t forgiven Rydin for refusing to help him get Navine away from Debol,
the Incubus who had held her captive. Instead Rydin had delivered Baden to him
too. It didn’t matter to Baden that Rydin had had no choice because the Incubus
had held a contract over Rydin.
“What’s the word?” Kean asked.
Baden scrubbed his fingers through his dark-brown hair and
sighed. “Lots of profanity. Nothing good.”
Fin held back a grimace and tried to not be offended. It
didn’t work. Her disgust toward him cut deep.
Valia huffed. “What’s her prob? We rescued her and Fin might
be able to save her life. So, she sucks a male
Sempire’s—”
“Valia!” Araya interrupted.
“What?”
“Inappropriate.” She nodded her head toward Baden’s red
face. “He’s her
brother
.”
Valia rolled her eyes. “Whatevs. I’m just sayin’. Fin’s a
smokin’ hot male. Who cares what his species is?”
“She cares,” Baden answered. “She was raised differently.
Traditionally. Male
Sempires
are not supposed to exist.”
“Uptight twat,” Valia mumbled around a slice of kiwi fruit.
“Perhaps you should try my method,” Rydin offered to Fin. “Handcuff
her, take her somewhere secluded and demand she accept you.” Rydin had done
just that to Valia two weeks earlier and they’d been inseparable ever since.
Valia perked up at that. “Oh yeah, great idea. You should
totally do that. We’d offer you our island but we’re nowhere near done breaking
it in yet.” She and Rydin shared a heated gaze.
Fin shook his head. “I don’t think taking her captive is
going to be helpful in getting her to trust me. Especially after being held
captive by Debol.”
Valia snorted. “She doesn’t need to trust you. She just
needs to wanna jump your bones.”
Fin ignored that remark and turned his attention to Baden. “Did
she drink the smoothie I made for her?”
“Yep,” Baden said. “She doesn’t like you but she loves your
fruit concoctions.”
“Well, someone needs to do something because she only has
two or three days,” Araya said.
Sempires
couldn’t survive more than a
few days without semen.
Baden nodded. “She said she was still hungry. Mentioned
something about plums.”
Fin brightened a little at that. Cherries and plums went
great together. He’d whip her up another smoothie, if she was hungry, hopefully
she wouldn’t kick him out right away. Maybe he could soften her up a little.
“I’m on it,” he said, forked a chunk of steak into his mouth
and headed to the kitchen.
* * * * *
Fin took a deep breath and put on a smile before knocking on
the door. It was locked from the outside to keep Navine from running away, but
he didn’t want to just barge in on her.
He knocked again when she didn’t say anything. He worried
when he knocked for a third time and there was still no sound from the other
side so he opened the door anyway. She wasn’t in the bed and—
He almost dropped the smoothie when he spotted her. She’d
obviously just stepped out of the shower and hadn’t bothered to close the bathroom
door. She was bent over, naked, drying her shoulder-length black hair with a
towel. How he’d love to walk up behind her, kneel down and lick those perfectly
round ass cheeks. Tearing his gaze from the incredible sight, he turned his
back to her, adjusted his dick and cleared his throat—loud.
She squealed and he heard the door slam. Shit. This was not
a great start to the task at hand. He considered leaving but everyone knew time
was not on their side so he sat in a chair by the bed and waited.
Five minutes later, the door opened. She stepped out
tentatively and glared at him. Even glaring, she was beautiful and made Fin’s
heart beat faster.
He’d been captivated by her the moment he’d seen her in the
demon realm, on her knees, head bent, a slave to an Incubus. He’d wanted to
slaughter everyone in his way to save her, to take her in his arms and erase
all the pain and suffering she’d gone through. She’d chanced a glance at him,
her gold eyes flashing, but then she’d realized what he was and disgust had clouded
her face. It’d been a punch in the gut but she’d consumed his mind ever since.
He’d smelled her cherry scent then and he smelled it now. He
wondered if her juices would taste like cherries when he licked her… Yeah
right. Like that was even on the table.
“Why are you in here? Where’s my brother?” she asked with a
sneer.
Fin stood and moved toward her but she took a step back. “I
brought you another smoothie. Plum and cherry this time.” He held out the drink
to her and felt a tiny bit of satisfaction as her eyes lit up, but it
disappeared when she refused to step close enough to take it from him.
“Set it on the table,” she said coldly.
Fin gritted his teeth. He was trying to be patient, to be
nice, but a male could only take so much. “I’m not going to
taint
you,
ya know. He moved toward her, holding the smoothie out and didn’t stop until
she’d backed herself into a corner. He left three feet between them, arm still
outstretched and said, “Take it.”
She hesitated but finally snatched it from his hand and quickly
ducked around him, putting more distance between them. How could she be so
repulsed by him when he wanted her so much? Life was so unfair.
Navine couldn’t believe her shitty luck. Six months ago she’d
been caught off guard, captured by some demon and given to an Incubus as a
gift. She’d resisted him as long as she could, but once she’d begun weakening
from lack of semen, she’d ultimately not been able to resist his overpowering
Incubus scent.
Incubi were irresistible and their semen highly addictive to
Sempires. She’d been addicted from the first feed, her fate sealed. Once a
Sempire
was addicted to an Incubus, she couldn’t survive without him because other
males’ semen wouldn’t appeal to her, would repulse her, supposedly wouldn’t
nourish her.
She and her brother Baden had hoped to find a solution to
her problem, capture and hold prisoner the Incubus until a cure could be found.
But Rydin, Valia’s male, had killed him, thereby sealing Navine’s fate.
When her brother had told her what their search to save her
had brought up, she’d thought he’d been joking. The semen of a male
Sempire
,
an abomination, could be the key to freeing her from her addiction. When she
realized he was serious, she’d lost it. She’d felt so dirty just considering it
that she’d immediately needed a shower to stop her skin from crawling. Male
Sempires
were mutants, a shame to the species. Tainted.
“You can leave now,” she said.
He folded his arms across his broad chest. “You’re welcome,”
he said.
She ignored his sarcasm and made her way onto the balcony
outside the room they’d locked her in. The view of their massive orchard,
almost every kind of fruit tree imaginable, was breathtaking. She’d love to
stroll through it, picking fresh fruit, lean back against a tree trunk and eat
her fill.
Navine wondered if she could jump off the balcony without
breaking too many bones, then shook her head. It didn’t matter anyway, they’d
put some magical cuffs on one of her wrists that kept her from teleporting.
Since this place was in the veil between the human and demon realms, she’d have
nowhere to run.
She should be pissed at her brother, Baden, for allowing it
but she knew he loved her and was terrified at the prospect of losing her. He
meant well and she knew she’d probably do the same if their situations were
reversed. Losing her brother would be too much to bear. They were all they had.
“Enjoying the view?” A male voice cut into her thoughts,
making her skin crawl.
She whipped around to find the mutant leaning against the
door frame.
“Why are you still here?”
“You know why,” he said softly.
“Ha! Like that’s ever going to happen. It was you, wasn’t
it?”
“Me what?”
“You’re the one who came up with the
rumor
, right?
Males always want what they can’t have. You made it up so you’d have a shot at
a
real Sempire
.”
His face distorted into an angry mask, a muscle ticking in
his jaw.
“You’re…” he started, but snapped his mouth shut as he spun
on his heel and left.