The demon rushed him. Blaéz grabbed his mind and blasted him to pieces. Ash rained down to the eroded asphalt.
At the sound of a hiss, Blaéz spun around just as Dagan evaded a fiery demon bolt that had almost took a chunk off his head. It hit the wall in a dull explosion. Rubble scattered to the ground. Growling like a pissed-off tiger, the Sumerian attacked, sword winging, and beheaded the remaining demon. He pivoted, pinning Blaéz with a stone-cold yellow stare. “What the hell did he mean by that?”
Blaéz shrugged, struggling to hang on to his shields as the voices battered them, threatening to disintegrate them. “Can’t imagine—but I still live with the hope I’ll somehow get my soul back.”
Dagan’s jaw tightened.
Yeah, that shut him up. A low blow, but it got him what he wanted. Blaéz dematerialized and found himself in another backstreet. The voices bantering inside his head turned up in full force. Maloch was toying with him. It was why he’d sent those fuckers here. If the bastard upped the pull, Blaéz knew he’d be dancing his way back into Hell like a marionette.
He stared blankly into the gloomy alley. With barely half the night gone, he couldn’t hold out. The cold inside him was growing too fast. He needed her. Stepping into the shadows, he dematerialized to the castle.
The moment he entered his bedroom, her warmth surrounded him, drawing him. He shut the door behind him. The sheets rustled, the bedside sconce flickered on. Darci sat up and swept her hair back from her sleep-flushed face. “Blaéz?”
As if under a compulsion, he crossed to her, reached out, and caressed her cheek. Emotions freed, desire raged like a geyser close to exploding. As if it weren’t enough he’d been fucked over by the Fates since birth and lived in a husk for millennia, now they had him by the balls with a hunger he could barely leash.
He didn’t want to scare her with the raw need pounding inside him, or worse, disappoint her. If he took her now, it would be all about him, not her. Jaw rigid, his groin heavy, aching, he dropped his hand.
“Blaéz—”
He shook his head. Before she could ask what was wrong, he flashed to the bathroom, hoping to regain some damn control. He pulled off his clothes and stepped into the shower, turning it to a full-on icy blast.
* * *
Darci pushed off from the bed and hurried through the dressing room only to hesitate at the bathroom door, unsure what to do. Blaéz appeared too wound up, looked like he was caught in turmoil and couldn’t find his way out again.
Dammit, she couldn’t leave him like that. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open. The sounds of a rustling shower hitting the tiled surface filled the place. Through the clear glass pane she saw him—head lowered, fists braced on the wall as water crashed over him.
She ran across, opened the cubicle door and stopped dead. She’d seen him naked, but still, he took her breath away.
“Blaéz?”
He turned, blinked away the water, then his expression changed, as if the sound of her voice had cracked through whatever had had him in its grip. Those beautiful glacier blue eyes took on a wild, carnal glow. A powerful arm reached out and yanked her inside and into a blast of stinging, icy water. “Blaéz,” she gasped. “It’s freezing!”
With a low growl, he spun her around and pushed her against the wet marble wall. The water turned warm, the velocity eased. She barely noticed, far too aware of his naked body against her back, his erection a thick and hard length on her backside.
“You shouldn’t have come in here.” He dragged his tongue from her nape to bite the shell of her ear.
Her breath hitched. “I was worried.”
“You should be scared.”
Scared? God, with his body pressed against hers, every part of her had turned to molasses, desire dampening her core. The only fear she had was that he’d stop and leave her wanting. “Blaéz,” she panted, looking at him over her shoulder as his mouth tormented her neck with small bites and licks. “Please…”
As if her word was a trigger, he wrapped her wet hair around his hand, angled her face to his and kissed her, hard.
Darci tried to turn around, but his hand in her hair tightened, holding her in place. She leaned back into his body and met every stroke of his tongue with one of her own. He pulled up her nightshirt and slipped his hand into her panties and rubbed her center with a calloused finger. She closed her eyes at the sheer pleasure flooding her. His mouth left hers and fastened on her shoulder as his fingers parted her. He teased her clit lightly then eased a finger inside her. Her eyes flickered open and her breath caught when she found him watching his hand thrusting in and out of her body.
God! The sheer eroticism of the moment had her knees weakening.
“You feel…incredible.”
Before she could draw her next breath, he pulled off her nightshirt and panties, tossing them aside. Turning her to him, his gaze swept over her body to linger on her breasts. Darci clenched her fists, trying not to give in to the impulse to cover her nakedness… Heck, he’d just had his fingers inside of her, what was a little skin. Her shyness fell away at the awe in his expression.
“You are a vision,a leannan.”
The raspy words torn from him made her hotter.
Rivulets of water ran down his pecs to the ridged surface of his abs. She traced their path with a finger. While she was soft with too many curves that could use a little gym time, Blaéz didn’t have any give in his body. Each muscle sculpted to perfection. She leaned in and kissed his chest where he’d been hurt. “You are beautiful.”
