To Hell and Back (6 page)

Him. Logan Winters. Hellhound. Savior. Lover.

“Logan,” she said softly, her hands in his hair. Gently she forced him away from her skin, until she could look into his eyes. “I didn’t live until I met you.” She shook her head, voice quivering with emotion. “Every breath I take is because of you. Every heartbeat. Every peaceful, wonderful thing in my life.” Her finger traced his lips and she couldn’t be sure, but the water that sat on his long lashes might have been tears. She leaned forward and kissed them away. “You’re everything to me, and I’ll fight until the end for us.” She leaned her forehead against his, chest heaving, tight with emotion. “You have to know that. Wherever you are, you have to know that.”

“I’m right here,” he said gruffly, and kissed his way down her chest, past her taut belly, until his hands gently pushed her knees apart. His eyes glittered and he looked like he wanted to eat her. They dropped to the juncture between her thighs, to the place that was warm and wet and aching for him. “I’m going to show you exactly where I want to be.”

He slipped lower in the water and knelt forward, his hands now firm on her knees, his dark head so close to her. Kira’s breaths came in sharp, heavy, spurts and when his mouth found her, when he suckled and tongued her clitoris, she fell back against the rock face, her body jelly. The heat was instant, the pleasure that erupted inside her intense. Made all the more erotic by the growls and animalistic noises that Logan made as he pleasured her.

He blew on her wetness, his hair tickling the sensitive area inside her thighs, and when he plunged two long fingers deep inside her, she squealed, loving the way he stroked and crooked his finger just so, finding that special spot that made her jump and squirm. The heat in her belly erupted and she leaned forward, groaning once more as her hands sank into his hair. She forced him back down. “I want your tongue,” she gasped.

He laughed wickedly and obliged.

Only when she’d come once more did he stop.

Kira looked down at him, satisfied but not satiated. Her gaze lowered, straining to see below the water, there where his erection strained. She knew the restraint he had. His muscles bunched along his shoulders, stretched tight across his chest, and his eyes no longer burned black, but were tinged with the very fires of Hell.

He stood. He reached for her, his eyes never leaving hers. She saw possession in their depths and her heart swelled knowing a man such as he wanted her. Kira Dove. At one time, damaged. Broken. But no more.

Logan brought her forward and as the water slid over them, her hands reached for his shoulders to steady herself as his mouth teased one nipple and then the other. They were buoyant in the water and Kira felt him, hard, against her. She guided her legs up, wrapped them around his waist, and sank onto him without waiting.

A smile touched his lips, even as desire fevered his face. Logan nipped at her mouth and murmured next to her ear. “A little anxious, are we?”

She groaned as his cock filled her. The sensation was exquisite and Logan held her in place as he moved through the water, eyes locked to hers. Only when he’d laid her down onto the soft bank of grass did he begin to move inside her. Long, slow, erotic thrusts. The kind that curled her toes and made her ache as he nearly withdrew each time, only to slide into her once more.

She held his gaze, kissed him hungrily when he bent forward, and matched his rhythm wholeheartedly. There was an urgency to their lovemaking, knowing they were on borrowed time. Heat pooled. It liquefied and rushed through her veins and all the while her hands caressed Logan’s straining muscles. His hard abs, his amazing butt. She cupped him and held him firmly and she murmured her love for him over, and over … and over.

The sun shone through the jungle trees, flickering across tanned skin and their wet naked bodies. As Logan rocked into her and she answered in kind, everything in her world was complete. It was perfect. And lovely. Achingly beautiful.

Sadly, she knew that it couldn’t last.

Chapter Seven

L
OGAN HELD
K
IRA
so close that her heartbeat reverberated inside him. Her scent, that heady, earthy scent so unique to her, settled in his lungs, and for a few moments he lay with her on top of him, their bodies still joined.

He knew he’d have to leave her soon. Lilith would pull him from this in-between world only he and his mate could access. A world made possible by the blood that flowed in his veins—inherited from his mother. Blood that made him unique to his kind. Blood that would save Kira, if he was strong enough.

She raised her head and stared down at him, her slim fingers tangling in his hair. The scars at her wrists were still vivid, still raw and ragged, but it didn’t detract from her beauty. Her eyes were luminous, her smile hesitant.

“I wish we could stay here,” she said softly, reaching forward and kissing him in a brief touch that pulled such possessiveness from him. He knew his eyes burned as red as the blood that rushed through their veins.

Logan exhaled and sat up, cradling her in his embrace as if she were a child. He felt the pull and knew his tether to this in-between world was thinning. District Three was calling and his mind was slowly coming awake. Lilith waited for him.

“Did someone come for you?” he asked. There wasn’t much time and he needed to know she was safe.

Kira pushed away, her eyes never leaving his. For a moment she was silent and then she sighed as she brushed a strand of hair from his face. She glanced back at the waterfall. At the flowers and butterflies and birds. “I knew this wasn’t real.”

“It’s as real as we want it to be,” he replied.

“I don’t want to leave.” Her voice broke and his heart squeezed as he watched her struggle to control her emotions. He wanted to offer comfort but knew she’d need to rely on herself. She’d have to draw on the strength she possessed to get through the coming days until he could get to her.

She was strong. His woman.

His fingers clasped her jaw. “Who came for you?”

She swallowed. “A man named Priest. He helped me escape the demons who invaded the town.” Her brow furrowed. “There was another, Cale was his name.” She paused. “They know you …”

Though he’d never met them, he knew the names. They were members of the League. Logan gave nothing away, but the relief he felt was short-lived. He’d heard whispers below. Questions had been asked that should never have come to light, including the fact he’d been in the gray realm in the first place. Lilith knew something, or thought she did, and he was beginning to suspect that there was a traitor in Bill’s so-called League of Guardians. For millennia the group had existed in secret, though whispers of their existence had been around for just as long. Had the circle been breached? Did the many who would see them destroyed know who they were?

Who could he trust? He hated the unknown.

Kira Dove’s future was in his hands and he knew he could trust no one.

“Where are they taking you?” he asked softly, not wanting to alarm her.

“I think a place called The Pines.” She searched his face. “Priest said it would be safe for me.” She bit her lip in that way that tugged at his soul. “But I don’t want to go. I want to stay here with you, or …”

He didn’t like the way her eyes shifted. “Or what?”

“Where are you, Logan?” The sorrow in her voice was palpable.

“I’m here with you,” he said simply.

But she wasn’t having any of it and shook her head. “No, where are you really?” Eyes, wide and trusting—eyes shiny with confusion— stared up at him.

“It doesn’t matter where I am. I will come for you.” He kissed her forehead. “I will return. Nothing will keep me from what’s mine.” He held her tighter. “From what I love.”

Searing pain ripped along Logan’s back and he hissed as it burned harder.

“Logan? What’s wrong?” Kira stood and bent over him, as another lash split his back wide open. Of course she wouldn’t see the scaled, poisonous whip, the blood, or the ripped, damaged skin. The pull intensified and Logan knew his time was up. Lilith was calling and his ability to stay here with Kira was diminishing by the second.

He staggered to his knees and forced the pain away. “You need to find a way to escape them, these men who have you. Do you understand? Do not go to The Pines. I don’t trust the League anymore and I can’t take that chance. Not with you.”

He saw her confusion and snarled as another wave of hurt rolled over him. Damn Lilith and her need to torture. Damn him, because he knew she was just getting started.

“But I thought Bill and the League wanted me safe?”

Christ, he didn’t have time to explain the intricacies of a struggle that had been in existence longer than even he. Frustrated, he ran fingers through his hair and scowled.

“I can’t be sure you’ll be safe there. I need you to trust me on this. Do not go to The Pines.” Logan groaned and staggered to his knees as something sharp dug into his shoulder blade. His skin felt like it was on fire, and beneath his flesh, the beast stirred.

“Logan, you’re not making any sense. You told me the League would protect me. That Bill and his buddies were the good guys.”

He wouldn’t lose control in front of Kira and he needed her to listen.

“I don’t believe that’s the case anymore. I think that”—he paused and stifled a groan as the pain intensified—“I think there is a traitor in their midst. Bill was right. There is a war coming and it’s already here. I’ve heard things, whispers of things, that make me question the stability of the League.”

The only place he could guarantee her safety from both the upper and lower realm was to get her home. To his mother. No one would be able to reach her there.

“I need you to trust me on this. Remember where I told you to go if we ever got separated?” He was breathing hard now and it was difficult to speak.

Kira nodded slowly, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

“Good,” he paused. Exhaled. “Slip away from them. They don’t know you like I do so they won’t expect it. You have our cash?”

She nodded.

“Use it to get transportation. Get to Hill Valley and find the lady in blue.” His body trembled as the pain increased tenfold and he heard Lilith’s voice in his ear—poison whispers and promises of darkness. “I have to go.” His hand touched her jaw and he drew her close. “I will come for you. Don’t ever forget that.”

Tears slid down her face and he kissed them away before claiming her mouth one last time. He tasted salt, sweetness, and, yes, strength. “Stay alive, little Dove,” he whispered, and then he pulled away. Logan made no effort to hide the pain he felt, the love and desire this small slip of a woman pulled from inside him. Logan Winters, a hellhound. And she a human. He’d never thought to see the day.

White flashes of light danced in front of his eyes and he knew his time was up. He stepped back, every cell in agony, but nothing close to the pain he felt at the thought of never seeing Kira again.

Her hand cradled her belly and just before he disappeared, back to Hell and District Three, he knew. He saw the confirmation in her eyes. She carried his babe. The child that both Heaven and Hell would destroy if given the chance.

The agony in his heart was crushing. He held it close. He would use it to fuel the fire and he would find his way back to her.

When Logan opened his eyes moments later and stared up into the crystalline blue of Lilith’s, something cold shifted inside him. It was different from the anger and animalistic response to pain he’d experienced in the past. This was calculated. Determined. Controlled.

He would escape District Three. He would do whatever the hell he had to do to make it happen.

For Kira. And for his child.

With slow movements, Logan rolled to the side and fell off Lilith’s bed. She watched him from the bloodied tangle of white sheets, her blonde hair rippling around her like golden waves of water. Shadows moved several feet from him and he knew they weren’t alone. The smell of rotting meat and overripe fruit filled his nostrils. Mixed with the metallic scent of his own blood, it was hard to take, and he nearly gagged.

“You’re awake,” Lilith said, a wide smile on her face as she stretched and rolled in his blood like an animal. Crimson swatches of shiny liquid glistened upon her alabaster skin and he watched, disgusted, as she slid from the bed and moved toward him. Still naked. Still horny as hell—that she couldn’t hide from him, the scent was much too strong. And still bent on breaking him.

“Did you dream of me?” she asked languidly, her finger tracing a fresh swash of blood as it seeped from a wound near his pectoral. She suckled her finger and stared up at him.

“No,” he answered. “That wouldn’t exactly be a dream now, would it?”

“Always so sarcastic.” Her eyes narrowed—for a second—before her smile widened. “You’ve never been like your brothers or any of those other horrid beasts. You never played the game.” She leaned forward and he clenched his hands. “It’s why I’ve always wanted you.” Her tongue raked over his chest and she made a throaty sound as she licked his blood and sweat. “Tell me why you were banished all those years ago. Something about a child, wasn’t it?”

He stared straight ahead and said nothing, though his ears perked up at the sound of footsteps. The shadows moved quicker now, swirling around them crazily.

Both of her hands were on him now, fingernails digging deep and drawing more blood. She pressed her breasts against him and ground her hips between his legs.

“I will break you,” she whispered.

“You can try.”

She laughed. “Were you in the gray realm?”

He remained silent.

“Who is the girl? The one who disappeared?” She paused, nails digging even deeper. “I have demons on her trail, you know this …”

Still he remained silent, though inside, fear began to seep into his soul. Fear for Kira. Fear for the unborn child. How were they going to survive without Logan?

Lilith stepped back, already bored with her game. “You will answer me.”

Logan squared his shoulders.

She arched a brow. “Who is the girl?”