Unleashed (3 page)

* * *

Jett glared at his lover and ground his teeth in frustration. Sometimes Locan was so damned cocky and such a control freak that it was sort of entertaining to watch him squirm, but right now the guy just pissed him off. So did the goddess. What a bitch. Jett didn’t get the blocked thoughts. It could be that Locan saw it as nothing more than a big game, but there was something else going on, something that set off Jett’s inner alarm system. He’d checked with Addie first, but she’d ignored him. She was so wound up in that damned slobbery hound that where Locan spent the night wasn’t even on her radar.

In fact, Jett might have felt a bit jealous of the beast if he didn’t enjoy seeing Addie so happy. She’d had to give up everything familiar to her when she became the fulcrum to their demon hunting team. It was only fair she have something all to herself. Az the hellhound seemed to fit all her criteria.

Not that he and Locan weren’t in that same category—property of Addie—but it was obvious Addie and the beast were a match. The thing was drooling all over himself as if the belly rub Addie was giving him put him this close to Nirvana. Of course, if Addie’d been rubbing on Jett with that much intensity, he’d probably be drooling, too.

Pele showed them to a room with a huge bed and a private bathing pool big enough for a party. Then she took Locan’s hand and led him away When the goddess left, the sense of all her power went with her. Jett glanced at Addie, who was staring after Locan with an expression of absolute confusion marring her features. “Jett? What just happened?” She frowned. “Did Locan want to go with her?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. He was sporting a lot of wood for a guy not interested in the woman, but I’m wondering . . . was he blocking us on purpose, or was the bitch pulling some kind of shit? She was throwing around a lot of power.”

Addie nodded. “I felt it. Are you sure Locan was blocking on purpose?”

Now that he thought of it. “Did you try to ’path anything to me?”

“No. Why? Did you try talking to me?”

Jett tried to recall. “Once, I think, but you were so involved with the hound, you ignored me.”

Addie’s eyes went wide. “I never ignore you. Or Locan, either. And I didn’t try to talk to you. Not telepathically, anyway. Do you think . . . ?” Her voice trailed off. “So much power from Pele. Maybe she was blocking us. Do you think Locan will be okay?”

Jett glanced at Addie. She’d unchained Az and the big beast had immediately taken a position by the door, guarding them from whatever. Jett walked over to where Addie sat on the floor, stroking the dog, and squatted down beside them. “Locan’s a big boy. Pele might have been blocking us, but Locan can take care of himself. He wasn’t faking the boner in his pants. We’ll give him until morning and then she won’t have any reason to hang on to him.” He almost snorted a laugh. “Unless Locan’s so damned good she decides to keep him.”

Addie slapped her fingers over her mouth. “You don’t think . . . ?”

“I’m kidding. Look, Addie, I’m not sure how much of what happened was Pele’s doing, but there’s nothing we can do tonight. Locan will be just fine.” He stood and held out his hand. “How about a bath? We can wash away some of the sulfur stink. He nodded toward the pool, where steam rose on gentle air currents.

Addie glanced at Az, leaned over and kissed his nose, and then grabbed Jett’s hand. “Sounds wonderful. It feels weird, though, not having Locan with us. Do you really think he’s okay?” She glanced at the door. “I mean, we just sort of sent him off with her. Will he be all right?”

Jett tugged her to her feet. “Locan’s a big boy. Even if Pele was screwing with our telepathy, he could have spoken out loud. Maybe he didn’t want to talk about what’s going on. Maybe he’s too embarrassed to admit he wants to fuck a goddess. I dunno.”

Addie lifted one expressive brow. “He wasn’t too embarrassed to hide the hard-on in his pants. And Pele may be gorgeous, but she had a death grip on him.”

Jett leaned close and kissed her, tasting the sweetness that was all Addie. “She’s got nothing on you.” He ran his tongue gently over the closed seam of Addie’s mouth, teasing her to open to him. The sound of waves breaking on the shore made a gentle counterpoint to the steady beat of her heart, the soft puffs of her breath. He cupped her cheek in his hand, tangled his fingertips in her hair and held her still, plundering the richness of her mouth, inhaling her breath, tasting her flavors.

She groaned and leaned closer, pressing her breasts against his chest, rubbing the slight curve of her belly against his groin, and he knew kissing wasn’t going to be enough. Not now. He helped her out of her clothing, and Addie did the same for him. Fingers flying over fastenings and zippers, tugging and shoving until both of them stood amid a pile of discarded pants and shoes, knives and swords and everything in between.

Jett swept her up in his arms and carried her to the pool. There were wide steps at this end, and he walked into the warm water. It was deeper than he expected—as tall as he was, the water still hit him mid-chest, and Addie floated in his arms. She dipped her head back, wetting her silvery hair and the thick dark lashes around her amazing deep brown eyes.

The black streak in the front of her hair glistened, but with it slicked close to her skull, with her lashes spiky from the water, she looked like a fragile waif in his arms, not five feet ten inches of demon hunting fulcrum. He so rarely had her to himself that he savored this quiet moment. He loved Locan as much as he loved Addie—she was the one, after all, who had convinced the two of them that what they felt wasn’t hate but blind, driving lust for one another. That lust had so easily converted to love that it made him wonder sometimes why he and Locan had never figured it out on their own.

But the love between Locan and Jett was different than what he felt for Addie. He wanted to hold her close, to protect her, to keep her safe, which was pretty stupid, considering what the three of them did. Hunting demons wasn’t a safe occupation any way you looked at it. His love for Locan was different—it had become an integral part of him, demanding and fulfilling, but not all-consuming. If either of them wanted to go off and screw someone—or something—else, it wasn’t a deal-breaker, because they each knew the other would always come back. He wondered if Addie felt the same way, or was she more possessive?

She hadn’t seemed to mind when Locan left with Pele, but maybe she just hadn’t known what to say. So he said it for her. “Does it bother you that Locan’s with Pele?” He kissed her before she could answer, and she was laughing when he finally pulled away.

“Do you want me to answer?” She smiled softly when he shrugged, and hugged him tightly around the neck. “If you’d both gone with her, I’d be jealous, but no. I’d rather he was here with us, but it doesn’t bother me. Should it? I know they have unfinished business. Maybe tonight he’ll finish it, or maybe he’ll discover that he needs to visit Hawaii more often. It doesn’t change how I feel about Locan, and I doubt it will change how he feels about us. As long as it’s something he wanted, not something Pele’s forcing on him. She’s very powerful.”

“Locan’s no wimp. He’ll be okay. You can’t fake a boner like his.” She laughed softly. “I wouldn’t know,” she said, running her fingers over his chest and then twisting lightly out of his grasp. The water was almost to her chin. Grabbing his fingers, she pulled Jett to a shallower spot and gently shoved him over until he lay on his back, floating lightly. His cock was a rigid pole thrusting up from his groin. Addie held him gently with one hand beneath his back, the other cupping his buttocks. He floated there, surprisingly at peace, considering how aroused he was.

Then Addie leaned close and took him in her mouth, and every muscle in his body clenched. He hadn’t expected the warm clasp of her lips, the heat and pressure as she sucked against his thick length. He should have, but he’d relaxed entirely, floating in the warm, soothing pool while Addie supported his body in her soft hands.

He hadn’t realized how much he needed her. Needed this. Locan and the goddess, the two of them leaving together, had thrown him more than he’d wanted to admit, but Addie reeled him in. Brought him back to what they had, what couldn’t be sundered, no matter how powerful Pele might be. No matter how far Locan strayed.

He groaned as Addie’s fingers teased the crease between his buttocks, pulling him away from his thoughts of Locan and the goddess. Pulling him back here, to the present. His cock swelled harder, stretched longer. Addie adjusted her stance, swallowed him deeper.

Her fingers teased his ass, rubbing gently around his anus, scraping softly with a fingernail. She thrust one finger deep, and he shuddered, groaning softly as she slowly pushed all the way in, then just as slowly dragged her finger out. His mind blanked entirely when two fingers went in, plunging deeper this time, and her mouth worked harder around his cock, sucking and then releasing, her fingers thrusting and retreating, over, and over, and over again.

She curled her fingers deep inside.

How the hell he’d thought she might miss that damned sensitive little organ—what the fuck was he thinking? Nothing at all, actually. He dared any man—demon or human—to think logically as a woman sucked his cock while she drilled his ass with her fingers. He fought it for a heartbeat, felt his muscles clench, harder this time. His hips jerked, and he cried out as the power of his climax followed that lightning trail from spine to balls to pulsing cock.

She kept sucking, swallowing his seed, her fingers slowly thrusting in and out of his clenching ass, taking him down as perfectly as she’d taken him to the top. He almost whimpered, as besotted as that damned hellhound with the things this woman could do to him.

And more in love with her than he’d ever imagined himself capable of loving anyone at any time.

Slowly she dragged her fingers out of his butt, slipped his flaccid cock free of her mouth, leaned over and blew big, wet, noisy raspberries against his belly.

“Shit!” He doubled over, laughing, and sank beneath the surface. Addie grabbed the trailing ends of his long braids and pulled him up, giggling while he gasped for air, sputtered and coughed up the water he’d inhaled. “I am so going to get you for that.” He lunged, she shrieked and splashed out of reach. Jett dove through the water and caught her just at the edge of the pool.

The next thing he knew, Azrael the hellhound was snarling in his face, teeth bared and drool flowing.

Jett backed off, hands raised. Addie glanced at him and then realized how aggressive her hound looked. “It’s okay, Az. Relax. We’re playing.” Then she looked over her shoulder at Jett. “Unless, of course, he actually catches me.”

The beast sat back on his haunches and made a loud chuffing noise. Jett glared at him. “He’s laughing at me.”

“I know,” Addie said. She climbed out of the pool and wrapped her arms around the animal’s thick neck. “Isn’t he just the sweetest thing? He might be laughing at you, but he was protecting me. That’s good, don’t you think?”

“Right,” he said, climbing out of the water. “Except when he’s protecting you from me.” He thought of snapping her cute butt with the towel, but then he glanced at the beast. Probably not the best idea. He grabbed Addie’s hand and led her toward the big bed. “I hope he doesn’t decide you need protecting from me now.”

She looked at the bed, and cast a sly glance his way. Then she turned and smiled at Az. “Go lie down, Az. Whatever happens in that bed is all good.” She wrapped both her hands around Jett’s arm, leaned against him and whispered, “At least it better be.”

Nothing like raising the bar. He hauled her into the bed, and set about showing her just how good things could be.

Chapter 3

Locan still wasn’t quite sure how he’d ended up in Pele’s quarters, but what else could he do when Jett had practically handed him over? Addie certainly hadn’t complained when Pele hauled him off. No, she was too busy hugging that blasted beast. He didn’t know what to make of any of this—his partners had never blocked his thoughts before and he felt as if they’d set him adrift without a compass.

He damned sure didn’t like thinking of himself as a gift. On the other hand, Pele was a woman of such extraordinary beauty she took his breath, and he had to admit, she fit this exotic place. He couldn’t call it a bedroom, since the suite of rooms was larger than most homes, filled with tropical plants and the cries of birds creating a musical cacophony—the perfect setting for the goddess.

She was sleek and softly rounded, womanly, with full breasts and fuller hips and thick black hair hanging straight and shiny to the backs of her knees. Her eyes were so dark they were almost black, her lips full and inviting, her sleek skin the color of rich caramel. Her scent was like the islands. When he stepped close to her, he inhaled sweet coconut and mango and the fresh breeze through the palms, and yet there was fire in her as well. The fires of the volcanoes and the fiery passion he remembered all too well.

Still, he couldn’t help but compare her to Addie, and for all her beauty and her inherent power, Pele came up lacking. Pele’s fire was molten stone and explosive blasts of heat, while Addie’s was a fire in the soul that called to him with a subtle yet pervasive song. Then he remembered that night so long ago, when he’d come to the goddess in his man form, had loved her well and long before suddenly reverting to the demon he was. He’d fled like a coward, afraid of Pele’s wrath, but now she called to him, crooked her finger, and he was hers.

He would have consciously severed his mental link to Jett and Addie, but there was no need. They’d done it for him. So be it. They could have each other tonight, and if they didn’t want him, he didn’t want to be seduced by their joining. He needed to give everything to Pele. He owed her that much after his inglorious retreat so long ago.

“You never returned, demon man.” She ran her finger along his cheek, down his throat and across the line of his shoulder. “You changed from beautiful man to overwhelming beast, and then you fled and I have been angry with you for all these long years. What happened, and what kind of creature are you? Will you do the same again?” She pressed a kiss to his chest, just above his left nipple. The touch of her mouth sent shivers across his skin.

He sighed and rested his forehead against hers. “I was a demon masquerading as a man that night I came to you, but your beauty was so overwhelming, the way our bodies fit together so unbelievably good, that I lost the concentration I needed to maintain my human form. I fled because I was embarrassed. I thought if I never saw you again, you wouldn’t be able to remind me what a fool I’d been, to think I could satisfy a woman like you.”

“A woman like me?” She shrugged and an unreadable expression flitted across her face. “I am powerful, I am ancient, and yet there are times I want to be a woman. Just a woman. No more, no less. Love me tonight, demon man. You’re not going to change again, are you? Are you
kupua
? Half god, half man with many powers?”

He shook his head. “No, not
kupua
, though I have some powers. I am no longer a demon. I’m a demon hunter, now. One of the good guys. I fight demonkind with my team, Jett and Addie. Together always, in all ways.”
At least most of the time.

She tilted her head and smiled at him. “They are your lovers?”

“They are. Both of them.”

“Ah. And yet they send you to be with me. That is not the usual way of lovers.”

“But it is the way of those who love enough to want my happiness.” That had to be it. He hoped he was reading them correctly. He knew Addie and Jett. They truly wanted him happy, and he had admitted he had unfinished business with Pele. That was the only acceptable answer.

Her smile transformed an already beautiful face into one that was breathtaking, beyond description. “To love that much, to be loved that much, is a rare gift. You are a lucky man.”

“I know. And tonight I feel even luckier.” Focusing all of his attention on the goddess, he felt the truth in his own words.

“And why is that?”

“Because I have you tonight.” He tugged her toward the bed that seemed almost a part of the jungle. The posts were living trees and vines snaked around the headboard. Orchids grew from the twisted trunks, and other flowers he couldn’t identify, but the bed looked freshly made and was more than large enough for his long frame. No more thoughts of Addie and Locan. They were right to cut the connection. Right to force him to focus on the goddess. He reached for the tie that held her sarong gathered just above her breasts. His pale fingers looked like ivory against her darker skin, and the differences between them—her full, womanly figure and his lean, fair length—fascinated him. He paused, barely touching the knot. Before he untied it, he gazed into those dark eyes. “With your permission, my lady?”

She covered his hands with hers and narrowed her eyes. “Tonight, do not think of me as a goddess. I am Pele, the innocent girl you’ve wanted for many months. The daughter of a simple man who desires what you offer her, for this night only.”

Okay . . . though that regal glare she was giving him didn’t come from any virginal girl he could recall. “And I am Locan, the man who has watched you from afar. Who wants you for his bride, but can only promise you this night.”

Her dark eyes seemed to look through him, to judge him, and she had the look of a knowledgeable street walker rather than a young girl, as he slowly, almost nervously untied the silky fabric, and carefully unwound it from her body. Still, she was absolutely perfect—all lush womanly beauty with full breasts and rounded hips and the slight swell of her belly that made him want to nuzzle against her softness and wallow in all that glorious warmth.

He sat her on the edge of the bed and removed his shoes. Then he slipped his leather pants over his hips and began to set his weapons aside. He hesitated a moment, uncomfortable in a strange place without his sword within reach, so he put the sword and his knives on the table beside the bed. Then he knelt beside the bed, between Pele’s legs, lifted her hips in his big hands and pulled her forward. “Lovely,” he said, whispering against her inner thighs. “Absolutely beautiful.”

She winked as she lay back. He lifted her legs, draping her calves over his shoulders and leaning close, breathing in the scent of her, nuzzling the dark curls between her legs, and then gently parting her flushed petals with his fingertips. He traced the silky crown of her clitoris with his tongue, then wrapped his lips around the small bundle of nerves, sucking gently, thankful that, though she might be a goddess, she was very much a woman. He used his fingers, swirling one fingertip in her sweet moisture, and then using his tongue and lips and even his teeth to tease her.

Pele bucked against him until he grasped her thighs in both hands and held her still, licking and sucking, nibbling at the sensitive heart of her until she whimpered and demanded release. He waited until she was literally hanging on the edge before he stood between her parted thighs draped over the edge of the big bed, ran his fingers through her feminine folds and pressed his cock against her.

Slowly at first, and then with more pressure he thrust forward, burying himself all the way to his balls with a slow roll of his hips. She whimpered and lifted her hips to meet him. Out, and then in again, and again, faster this time, and deeper. Her whimpers became frantic cries, her legs locked around his waist, and he felt the trembling begin, knew her body rushed to find completion. Still thrusting, rocking against her welcoming sex, he leaned forward and rolled her nipples between his fingers, pinching and pulling, timing each firm tug with a deep, hard thrust. He adjusted his stance just enough to drag the top side of his erection over her clit on every downward thrust, and she suddenly stiffened beneath him, her body arched, her lips parted on a soundless cry that grew slowly into a scream of pleasure. Power surrounded them in wave after wave, as if her climax rippled in the air around them. Locan held on to control as long as he could, buffeted by her energy. Not until she’d gasped and fallen back against the bed did Locan find his own release, that familiar pleasure so intense it bordered sweetly on pain, a coil of heat that splintered away from his spine, through his balls and down the full length of his cock. He felt as if he would come forever, a pulsing, pounding completion to what had been an amazing experience.

He’d made love to a goddess. Her power still rippled in the air around them just as her feminine muscles continued to ripple and pulse around his cock. From the sated look on her face, he knew he’d left her satisfied. He had to physically force himself not to ruin the moment with a self-satisfied grin. Instead, he gently slipped free of her warmth, lifted her and stretched her limp body out on the bed before lying down beside her. His weapons were within reach, Pele smiled weakly and closed her eyes, and Locan curled his body around hers and relaxed into sleep. Tomorrow, he and the others would have to talk so he could make them understand what happened tonight.

Once he figured it out. Then he’d have to convince Addie that she really didn’t want to take a hellhound home with her. But that was tomorrow’s worry. Tonight, he only wanted to sleep.

* * *

There was nothing Namaka, goddess of the sea, loved more than the gentle ebb and flow of waves, the never-ceasing rhythms of the vast seas and the endless, timeless cycle of the tides. Nothing, unless it was sticking it to that bitch of a sister, Pele, and her damned volcanoes. Pele, the one everyone believed in and feared, the one who got all the good press, as if she counted so damned much more than Namaka.

Stomping along the shore, Namaka gazed toward Pele’s island home and muttered, “Bitch.” Then she planted her hands on her hips and snarled. “A few piddly volcanoes and everyone thinks she’s the ultimate goddess. Idiots.” Didn’t they realize that over seventy percent of the world was ocean? And who was the goddess of all that salt water? Not Pele. Shaking her fist, she shouted, “It’s me, Pele. Nā-maka-o-Kaha’i. I’m the goddess of the sea, you bitch. You might build mountains, but I wear them down and turn them into sand.”

It was payback time. Finally, Pele was going to pay for stealing Namaka’s mate, Aukele.
Thou shalt not poach thy sister’s man.
It had to be written somewhere.

And right now, a plan eons in the making was finally coming together. Namaka gazed across the dark water, staring at the slight glow over the southeastern corner of the big island of Hawaii where Pu`u `Ō `ō, a smaller cinder cone on Kilauea, continued the cycle of eruptions. It was always more active when Pele was in residence, and right now that sucker was boiling.

She couldn’t actually attack Pele. That would be frowned upon and could get her into more trouble than usual. But there was nothing that said she couldn’t take what Pele wanted, and Namaka knew her sister wanted the man now sharing her bed.

So simple, really, once she’d learned of Pele’s lost demon lover. Learned he was now a hunter, one who responded to threats by demonkind. Sending that hellhound had been strategically brilliant, even if it was a little risky, pulling a demon hound from guard duty at the gates of hell. Let the stupid mutt Poki take the blame, but Namaka knew the credit was all hers.

Just like that demon lover of Pele’s. All hers in a very short time. Namaka called her sea monster and crawled atop the great beast’s neck. Then she merely pointed, and they flew across the waves to the big island of Hawaii. She would capture the demon hunter and make all of them pay. His suffering would be Pele’s suffering, and there was absolutely no reason Namaka couldn’t enjoy herself in the process.

Nope. None at all.

* * *

Locan stirred. It was the smell that woke him, a rank, seaweed stench that seemed to fill his nostrils and made the air too thick to breathe. He rose up on one elbow, aware of Pele sleeping soundly beside him, aware, too, of the powerful sense he was no longer alone with the goddess.

Something else waited in the shadows. Something large and scaled, the source of that foul stench. Reaching for his dagger, he called out, a silent cry for help to Jett and Addie. Then the foul air forced him back. It closed off any sense of light or dark or anything at all, beyond the fact he was falling.

Falling for the longest time. He didn’t remember hitting the ground. No, he didn’t remember anything at all.

* * *

“What’s the matter with that damned dog?”

Jett blinked sleepy eyes and stared at her as Addie dragged herself out of a nightmare. Something had happened to Locan. Something terrible, and Azrael was whining and licking her face, and . . .
Oh, crap!
“Locan. Something’s got Locan. He called for help . . .”

“That’s what woke me up. Guess he quit blocking us.” Jett leaned over and patted Azrael’s big head. “Thanks, boy. Good dog.”

He was out of bed and dressing before Addie’d fully come awake, but it didn’t take her long to get her clothes and weapons in place. “What now?”

“We see what Pele knows.”

“Az? Take us to Pele. Now!”

The hellhound scrambled across the slick obsidian floor with Addie and Jett following close behind. They raced along the dark obsidian toward a pale glow. Pele lay facedown atop a rumpled bed, either sleeping or unconscious. Her arms and legs were bound in long strands of seaweed and the air carried an unnatural stench.

“Pele? Goddess! Wake up.” Jett unceremoniously shook her shoulder. She groaned and turned her head away. He slapped her right buttock, hard enough to leave a mark. She jerked and groaned again. He slapped the left, leaving a pair of matching handprints.