Soul Reborn (Key to the Cursed Book 1) (17 page)

The commander and
the entire room stood as he approached. His presence even melted her defiant
sister’s resolve. Lilly took a deep breath and finally stood to face her angry
mate.

Correction.
Furious
mate.

His livid black
eyes were riveted on her. Lilly tried to not to break eye contact, but the
intensity of his anger was too overwhelming. She jerked her gaze over his
shoulder, only to see Kamen’s smug glare, which quickly turned to rage when a
warrior hovered intimately closer to Kit. When the warrior stared defiantly
back, Kamen took two long strides in his direction. Anyone within ten feet of
Kit backed off instantly.

Lilly looked back
at Asar, searching her mind for some defense. He had caught her in the middle
of an orgy.
Strike one.
Drinking wine with his elite warriors.
Strike
two.
Negotiating transportation behind his back.
Strike three.
This
would not bode well after Kepi’s betrayal. She readied herself for the worse.

His black eyes
finally broke from hers to his commanders. “Bomani, it is good to see you,”
Asar said in a surprisingly even tone.

Bomani bowed. “It
is an honor to have you and your mate visit us. She was just telling me about
the circumstances of her younger sibling. I am honored she would ask me for
help.”

Lilly flinched, and
Asar’s hardened gaze flashed back to her. The muscles in his jaw rippled and
bulged under the strain of his clenched teeth. Shit, he was pissed.
She
held her tongue, knowing if she said a word, there would be a fire storm to
contend with. Better to wait it out, maybe give him some time to cool off.

Without taking his
eyes off of her, he spoke to his commander. “Yes, it is unfortunate. I
apologize for not being able to come initially myself, but I got held up. But
now that I’m here, please continue the discussion.” Asar stepped past Lilly and
sat in the chair she'd been sitting in.

Lilly let out
breath. She wasn’t out of the hot seat yet. There was no fooling herself. He
was beyond pissed! Turning back to the commander, she stood behind Asar’s
shoulder. Kit gave her a stressed look, but casually grabbed another chair at
the closest table and sat down. Kamen gestured for Lilly to sit next to Asar
and then took up position behind her sister. She moved purposely to the chair,
trying to maintain some semblance of control.

Hell, she had lost
control the moment Asar walked in the door.

Asar accepted a
goblet of wine. All the sexual activity had ceased and cleared out of the hall.
Most of the patrons departed and an eerie silence settled into the room. He
took a slow, deliberate sip before turning to Lilly. “So where did you leave
off?”

Although his voice
sounded calm, his eyes and body told her a much different story. His jaw
muscles were twitching, which would worsen if he caught one of the warriors
gawking at her. She clasped her hands tightly in her lap trying not to show the
fine tremor of her fear. “Your commander asked for my assurances that you
approve of their assistance in retrieving my sister.”

Asar turned to
Bomani. “You may. I want minimal collateral damage. These Nehebkau are human
and I don’t want your troops getting overly zealous with them. Currently, the
huntresses are the only line of defense against the revens and the goddess. I
do not want their numbers decimated.”

Bomani relaxed
slightly. “I understand.”

Lilly’s heart
skipped a beat. She fully expected Asar to carve her up in front of his
commander. She glanced over to catch his expression. His face and eyes were
still stone cold, but despite this, he had covered for her.
Or
was just
buying his time until her got her alone. Gods, she was in trouble. There wasn’t
anything more humiliating than getting caught. Worse, she had already blown his
trust once by not telling him of her involvement in Kepi’s release. Her
impatience and need for control had gotten the best of her yet again.

“When do you want
us to transport out?”

“In a few hours, I
have few loose ends to clean up.” Lilly froze. She was no doubt one of his
loose ends. Asar finished his drink and set it down on the table with a loud
thud.

Turning to Lilly,
his eyes darkly penetrating, he asked, “Shall we go? Unless
you
would
like to stay?”

She could feel the
burn of anger in her gut. Admittedly, she might be in the wrong, but she wasn’t
about to let him manhandle her in this relationship. He withheld information
from her, so who was he to be pissed? She turned to the commander, inclining
her head. “Thank you for your time commander.
Next
time, I won’t
surprise you.” She finished her statement with a flirtatious smile. Standing,
she forced herself to meet Asar eye to eye. “Let’s go home.”

He held his hand
out indicating she would go first. She moved without looking back, heading
straight for the door. With his gaze drilling into her back, she could barely
breathe. She understood now why the other gods bowed down to him. His presence
alone was intimidating, and had her waffling between anger and submission.

Kit waited for her
at the door. The look in her eyes asked if she should stay or go. She answered
with very slight gesture with her head, despite her wanting reinforcement. It
was like being sent to the Principal’s office. She was a grown woman for hell’s
sake. Her father didn’t raise her to kowtow to some man. Well, he was a god,
but that shouldn’t make any difference.

Should it?

She stepped out
into the street and took deep breath of air. The smoke from the drugs had made
her dizzy, and she needed all her faculties to stand against him. Kit and Kamen
were nowhere to be found.

Asar walked
silently beside her, a hulking shape that looked straight ahead with his fists
clenched. The dark waves of energy flowing off of him made her head spin worse
than the drugs.

Unable to take his
silence, Lilly sighed. “Okay, I overstepped my bounds again. I’m sorry.”

She hoped taking
the hit early would somehow deflate his anger, but she knew the minute he
stopped walking she was done for. Refusing to show her fear, she turned to face
him in the darkness. His dark form, shrouded by the shadows, seemed to vibrate
with energy.

“Did any of them
touch you?” he finally asked. “I’ll kill anyone who dared lay a filthy hand on
you.”

Lilly flinched. She
never heard such raw, possessiveness before. “What? No!” He grabbed her quickly
before she could escape and ran his nose over the surface of her body.

“What the hell are
you doing?”

He finally released
her, apparently finding no evidence of another man’s scent on her skin. “You
should have not gone in there. There are things that are not appropriate for
you.”

She gasped when she
realized he wasn’t upset over her plans to rescue her sister. He was angry
because she was there with other men—half-naked men. Granted, there was
activity going on that even shocked her, but of the multitude of things to be
upset about, he chose that one? She laid her hand against his chest. “You’re
mad because you think they will corrupt me somehow?”

He pulled away and
glowered at her. “
That’s all?
Do not make light of this. I forbid you to
go in there again.”

Her anger reignited
at his words. “First of all,
nothing
happened. Second of all, yes it was
a little X-rated, but nothing I haven’t seen before. Third, where do you get
off forbidding me to do anything?”

His eyes widened.
“What do you mean you have seen that before?”

She groaned. He was
so, so, male! Worse, he didn’t deny that he was controlling her. “Hell. I
didn’t grow up in a convent. And let’s not get distracted from what you're
really
saying here. I would never cheat on you, and I do not enjoy being controlled.”

“I trust you. I
just don’t trust them.”

“That makes no
sense. And, it doesn’t matter whether you trust them.” She crossed her arms.
“If they had tried anything, I would have shoved my sword up their ass.”

Asar stared down at
her with barely tamped anger. Lilly rolled her eyes.

“So, I am
forbidden. Fine. So are you!” The thought of him in that place spun her anger
to the next level. The picture of the female licking the cum off her lips
flitted through her head. “If I find you in there, I’ll kill the bitch.”

Lilly turned on her
heels and stalked off into the darkness. She didn’t get far.

He materialized in
front of her. “Do not walk away from me," he snarled. "We are not
through talking.”

“Talking? This is
called
arguing.
And stop telling me what I can and cannot do!”

“Do you have to be
so infuriating? You went to a whorehouse behind my back to organize a mission
you did not think to discuss with me first. Do not give me that haughty
attitude of yours.”

“You kicked me out
of the meeting with Nehebkau when it directly concerned my family. My sister is
out there, and I’m stuck here, doing nothing. I couldn’t wait around for you to
get back. We have a limited window of time before Mother moves Kendra from the
safe house. From there, we will lose her. They’ll move frequently to the point
we won’t be able to trace her.” Her anger faltered and her eyes became damp
with tears. She looked away, angry at herself for getting emotional.

* * *

Lilly’s energy retracted
in on itself the moment her emotions waivered. Human women were more
unpredictable than goddesses. Goddesses could be vindictive and stayed angry a
very, very long time, but Lilly burned off negative energy quickly. He could not
stay mad at her, although he had every right to be.

She sighed. “I
guess I should at least thank you for not embarrassing me in front of the
commander.”

The thought of her
standing up to his most dangerous warriors filled him with sudden desire and
pride. It took internal fortitude to go into the lion’s den. He might never
admit that to her, but there was power behind the fact that she was his, and
she would not let anyone else touch her in the way he touched her. The dark
part of him wondered if she enjoyed what she saw. Would she do what the whores
did for the warriors? Or let him do things to her?

Asar grabbed her so
quickly, she yelped in surprise. He thrust his tongue in her mouth demanding she
reciprocate, despite being in the middle of the warrior compound. She melted
into his arms, all of her anger dissipating with each kiss.

“I will not
apologize for my jealousy,” he rasped against her lips. He felt her suck in her
breath when he loosened her top. “Do you want me to stop?”

Her eyes flashed a
dark green and she shook her head, tugging on the string to his pants. He
guided her back up against the building and leaned his arms on either side of
her.

A smile curled up
on her lips, as she reached into his pants. “And I won’t apologize for mine,”
she said slyly, sliding down the front of him. Her warm mouth enveloped him, her
tongue teasing the tip of his hard cock. At that moment, he couldn’t have cared
less if someone walked by.

Her hand cupped his
balls and her lips traveled the length of him. With his anger so close to the
surface, his beast controlled most of his actions. This was the side of himself
he had not yet revealed to her. Would she think him depraved? Their previous
love making had been anything but painful.

Body shuddering, he
grabbed a handful of her hair, and pushed himself deeper into her mouth.

The bounds of what
she would do with him, what she would do
to
him would be tested this
night. He pulled her up roughly by the hair. Though she winced, excitement glittered
in her green eyes. He was surprised to see her incisors slightly lengthened to
sharp, needle-like points. She scraped them across his skin, kissing his
shoulder, releasing small amounts of venom into his body. He hissed at the
burn.

If she did not know
his needs before, she would now. As soon as he removed her pants, Asar spun Lilly
around, pressed his hard cock along the crevice of her bottom, and crushed her
against the wall with his body.

Stimulated by her
venom, his fangs descended to their full length. Without hesitating he plunged
his teeth into the soft curve of her shoulder. She gasped as he drew the blood
into his mouth. He pulled her head back and shared it with her. She eagerly
lapped at his tongue and fangs.

“You are mine,” he
growled against her skin.

His fingers slid
around the curve of her hip down in between her legs, where the sweet liquid of
her heat bathed his fingers. He groaned at her level of arousal, and she
responded, separating her legs to invite him into the warmth of her sex. He yearned
to plunge himself into her.

Not yet, he told
himself. There was one taste he had yet to experience.

Asar grabbed Lilly
by the hips and knelt behind her, ravaging her bottom with kisses and bites. She
tilted her hips irresistibly towards him.

Her folds glistened
with wetness. He thrust his tongue into her with demanding need. The silkiness
of her arousal spurred him to probe deeper. He shifted her hips further back to
open her up to his exploration. Relentlessly, he encircled her swollen clitoris
with his tongue, followed by hard bites with his teeth.