Temptation at Twilight: Lords of Pleasure (26 page)

But first ...

Harley glanced at him, green eyes wide and shiny with tears from all she had seen. Her wounds ran deep, and the vampire he couldn’t remember wanted to comfort her, love her. His beast only wanted her underneath him.
Mine
.

“Come here.”

“Go beat yourself off, you jerk.” She spoiled the barb by reaching to wipe a tear that had escaped from the corner of her eye.

His lips turned up. This must be why in his old life he’d loved this woman. “Well, now. That wasn’t very friendly. Looks like I’ll have to give that smart little mouth something satisfying to do.”

He moved to sit on his knees, close to her back, and rested his hands on her slender shoulders.

“Get away from me,” she snapped.

“Is that really what you want?” He kissed her neck, smiling when she shivered.

“Yes.”

“Beautiful liar. Tell me to stop.”

“Stop.”

“Once more, with
feeling
.” His teeth grazed the delicate flesh at her nape, then traveled upward to the soft shell of her ear. She started to move away, but he held fast.

“Soren, we need to go see about Valafar. He’s in trouble.”

“Mmm.” He nibbled a path from her earlobe to her neck, his hands sliding under her arms to cup her breasts.

“Leila has destroyed your whole life! How can you think about helping her kill Valafar? You have to fight what’s happening! She’s taken over your soul and killed your brother Luc
.
”

Luc.
The name delivered a crushing blow to his chest. Sadness rolled through him, drowning him in a giant wave. Blurred images sped past. Two tall, handsome men. A mansion. Horses. Sex, blood, and lots of it. Anytime he wanted.

This woman, spread in lovely submission between him and a black-haired demon.

He couldn’t hang on to their meaning.

“I’m
trying
to fight!” He jerked her around to face him, rage joining with the darkness spreading across his soul like an inky stain. “You don’t have any idea what hell is! It’s
inside
me. I want to do terrible, depraved things.”

Harley stared at him, paling. “What kinds of terrible things? Like you did to Jordy?”

“Yes!”
Jordy.
Yes. How could he have forgotten? He bent over her and tipped up her chin with a finger, forcing her to look up at him. “I want blood. More and more blood. I’ll never be able to get enough. I need it filling my mouth, my cock. I-I don’t want to kill for it, but I will—the hunger is so bad I can’t stand it anymore.”

After a moment, she flattened both palms on his heaving chest. “Better
me
than
her
.”

His balls tightened in anticipation. “But what if I can’t stop?”

“I trust you.”

He didn’t need further encouragement. Slender, creamy thighs beckoned him to delve inside. To taste her pink, delicate sweetness. Auburn tresses fell in a curtain around her slim shoulders. Her stormy jade gaze revealed fear—and incredible arousal.

Soren knelt between her splayed legs, gripping her thighs and kissing his way along the inside, toward her center. Finding the tender nub, he flicked it with his tongue. Leisurely at first, then faster, darting into the soft folds to lap every drop of her honey.

“Ohh, Soren! Yes, yes.”

She began to relax, closing her eyes, arching her back to thrust her breasts forward. Offering herself to him. The pressure in his balls, the fire licking his shaft, drove him to near madness. He wanted to crawl inside her, consume her. He barely heard his own command above the blood roaring in his ears.

“Lie down, hands above your head.”

She complied, raising her arms and crossing her wrists. Soren maneuvered over her, pinning her wrists with one hand, her submissive position short-circuiting his brain with animal lust. If a more sexual invitation existed for one person to do whatever they wished to another, he didn’t know what it could be.

With one finger of his free hand, he stroked her clit, gleaming and flushed from his attention. Liquid gold rushed over his hand, and she whimpered.

“Please!”

“Please,
what
?” he demanded.

She bucked against him. “I need—I want—”

He reveled in her soft moan as he guided the tip of his head to her entrance. “You want this?”

“Yes!”

Fingers digging into her flesh, he impaled her. Buried to the hilt, he rocked, hips thrusting. Grinding into her as fully as possible. Her muscles clenched, sheathing him, her little clit rubbing his slick cock.

“Harder!” she cried.

He slammed into her again and again, the pulse of her life force calling to him. His fangs lengthened. He’d take all of her. Letting go of her wrists, he wrapped her hair in his fist and pulled her head back as he fucked her. Exposing her neck and the sweet blood flowing there. She’d surrendered, ready for him. He smelled the musky perfume of her excitement.

He brushed his lips against her neck once, then sank his teeth deep. She screamed, bucking wildly beneath him. Her rich blood welled on his tongue and he drew hard, pulling the nectar down his throat in greedy swallows. It filled him, engorged him, and the beast rose in triumph.

“Soren! Please . . .”

She was helpless beneath him, at his mercy. His willing captive.

He drank, riding her, and when she began to spasm around him, holding back wasn’t an option. They exploded together, her heat flooding him as he shot his release deep inside her.

“Shit.” Soren withdrew and rolled to lie on his back, gasping. Fighting the strong urge to pounce on her and finish it. Drain every delicious drop from her body. The beast craved the kill. The ecstasy of taking his pleasure as life faded away.

Soren closed his eyes in despair.

The constant assault on his senses, the lure of evil, was becoming impossible to resist. The beast was merging with his mind, methodically overtaking his soul. Sometimes, like this moment, he could discern between the two of them. Soon he would no longer be able.

Harley squirmed beside him, and he opened his eyes to see her lying on her back, gazing at him, dark auburn hair tangled around her face, a small smile teasing her lips.

Yes, he longed to do it, imagined riding her again, ripping open her throat. Tearing the meat to get all of the—

“No !” He bolted to his feet, panic thundering in his chest. He was becoming Leila’s creation. A murdering brute.

Her smile vanished and she sat up. “What’s wrong?”

Shaking, confused, he clasped his hands over his ears. His voice cracked. “Who am I? Help me, Harley.”

She hurried to him, took his face in her hands. Her beautiful eyes bored into his. Calm and reassuring. “You’re Soren Fontaine, the man I love.
No matter what
.”

“I don’t know who that is anymore.” He swallowed hard.

She pressed against him, kissed away his tears. “Oh, honey, you will. Believe it. Please don’t cry.”

“I’m so fucking scared.” Wrapping his arms around her, he crushed her to him, willing her strength into him.

“Me, too. But we’re going to get through this together, if you’ll just stay with me.”

He hugged her tighter. “Harley, if everything goes wrong, if there’s no hope for me—” He broke off, choking on the words.

She pulled away, touched his hair, his face. “Then I promise I’ll do whatever it takes to set you free.”

He gave her a gentle kiss, lingering for a moment, letting her love wash over him, quieting his raging, black heart.

And understood that he was saying good-bye.

S
oren pulled away from her, casting about the room, searching for something they could wear. “We have to get the hell out of here.”

“Don’t bother. We’re locked inside, anyway.”

“Not for long.” He held up a pair of robes that had fallen behind one of the sofas and tossed one to her. “Put this on.”

She slid her arms into it, securing the belt around her waist while he did the same. “Now what? Are we just going to walk through a solid wooden door?”

“Even better.”

Bracing his feet apart, Soren held one arm in front of him at chest level, palm down. Harley was about to make a skeptical comment when the door began to shake on its hinges, as though a fierce hurricane screamed beyond the planks.

She gasped as the door bowed outward like a balloon, stretching, straining. The wood shattered with a deafening
boom,
like a cannon shot. Dust and splinters blew outward, into the corridor beyond.
Crap! The Gorgon’s entire army must’ve heard!

Soren held up his hand, flexing his fingers. He looked at her and grinned. “Pretty cool, huh?”

That
was her Soren. Impish, like a mischievous boy with a new toy. Tears sprang to her eyes and she blinked them away furiously. This wasn’t the time to think about that beautiful light giving in to the darkness. About the horrible promise she’d made to him if the beast won.

“Come on.” Taking her hand, Soren led her into the dim corridor and paused. “Left or right?”

“Take your pick. I’m completely turned around.”

“There’s got to be a way out.”

He turned to the right, moving stealthily, pulling her along in his wake. When Harley realized what he’d said, she drew up short, yanking on his hand.

“Wait! We can’t leave Valafar behind to face her alone!”

Soren spun around. “We have to. If I stay, Leila will force me to extract the secret of how he can be killed.”

Every instinct shouted to run, to get Soren as far away from this hellhole as possible. But the solution wasn’t that easy.

“If you go, she could torture him forever, literally. Could you really condemn another to suffer the same fate you made me promise to help you avoid?” she said softly. “And this is a guy who’s trying to save your hide.”

He raked a hand though his hair and dropped his gaze to the floor. “Damn.”

“She won’t quit, honey. If you get away, she’ll enjoy having the prince at her mercy. She’ll amuse herself for a while by making him suffer, but the novelty will wear thin. A power-hungry bitch like her will want him dead eventually. And when she tires of playing with him, she’ll hunt you down again.”

“Because I carry the mark of Azrael. We’ll be right back where we started,” he finished, miserable.

“Yes.” She touched his arm. “This has to end. Maybe you can find a way to help Valafar without her catching on, and then
he
can help
us.
It might be the only solution.”

He looked away, fists clenched. “It’s a long shot at best.”

“We don’t have anything else.”

“I know, I just . . . I want to run. Pretend none of this is happening. When I’m alone with you, I can keep the beast under control. I want our life to begin,” he whispered.

Our
life. Not his. Deep down, he still carried her in his heart. “Can you use some of that magic of yours to pinpoint where they’ve taken Valafar?”

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, scenting the air. After a few seconds, he opened them again and nodded, his black gaze troubled. “I think so. But, Harley, from this point on, don’t believe
anything
you see or hear. I can’t hold out much longer. Don’t trust anyone, especially me.”

Fear zinged through her. “Then who’ll help me?”

He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek and looked deeply into her eyes, as though memorizing her face. “You.”

“Against a bunch of crazy vampires and demons?”

“You don’t have a choice.” Soren grasped her hand and turned with a heavy sigh, leading the search for the doomed prince.

 

 

Aldric became aware of a hand on his shoulder. Shaking him hard. He moaned and opened his eyes to see a large demon hovering over him, and automatically reached for a sword he hadn’t carried in ages.

“Easy, Lord Aldric,” the demon said, eyeing his condition. He checked the bandages on Aldric’s leg as he spoke. “Do you know where you are?”

“No.” He thought. “I was on my way to quell an uprising between two packs of shifters when I was ambushed by a few of your kind.”

“Rogues,” the demon spat. “Traitors. Valafar will have their heads—if he can be rescued, along with your brother Soren and his mate.”

Fear made Aldric lightheaded. “Tell me what’s happened. All of it.”

When the demon had finished speaking, he was numb with rage. Grief. “Luc has not been found?”

“I’m afraid not.”

“Then he lives. I won’t believe otherwise.”

The demon nodded. “Still, something has to be done about Leila first. The traitors must die.”