At the low voice, Nate lifted his head to clash with the heated blue stare of a guy with disheveled dirty-blond hair. “I know a way to ease that—”
“I’m busy.” Nate dismissed him, searching for prey. There was always the type he preferred in places like these. His gaze skimmed over a pair of demons at the bar. Another spasm of pain torqued his spine, and he ground down on his molars.
“I can wait…”
Dammit.He was still there?
Annoyed, Nate glanced back. The human’s gaze lowered to Nate’s mouth, then back up. “Until you’re ready.”
It didn’t matter to Nate, male or female, as long as they had what he needed. While he preferred demons, this human would do for now. Because, behind the sultry smile, rage and a little wariness seeped off him. The latter was something he hunted; ultimately, it all channeled into what he needed—dark, vitriolic emotions.
The human put a hand on his chest, and Nate backed him into a dark corner of the club. A smile widened on his flushed face. He pushed Nate’s long coat aside and fumbled for the zipper on his jeans.
“Fucking your throat is not what I have in mind. Just this.” Nate grasped the human’s jaw, head lowered, his mouth hovering a hair’s breadth away from his prey’s, pain flaying him. He let his demonic nature bleed into his eyes, a guttural growl emitting from his throat.
The man gasped, horror dilating his pupils.
Too bad you chose me.
Impassively, Nate watched the human try to fight off the mental hold on him, his emotions wide open for a feeding. The acrid terror he emitted scraped Nate’s psyche like shards of glass flaying layers off his mind, his penance for siphoning this way. Not like he had many choices.
To survive, this was what he’d become. A deviant.
The human’s recent memories crashed through his skull like a vid in slo-mo…two males on the couch…the blond banging into a dark-skinned guy. Pain then rage flogged him as he watched them…
Nate shut out the images his feeding always exposed him to. Not his biz, anyway. His prey moaned, his shoves as feeble as a fly caught in a web, unable to break the psychic grip.
In what felt like hours later, the brutal agony crushing his spine eased. His beast side settled again, but Nate knew it wasn’t enough, not with human donors.
He let go of his mental hold on the human and stepped back. The man slumped against the wall, looking like he’d been thoroughly satiated, terror gone.
Yeah, he was a bastard and made no excuses for it. But a thread of conscience must still be floating somewhere inside him since he left his prey with the illusion of being gratified.
Nate strode for the exit, skirting a gaggle of females, but one stepped in his path, forcing him to stop. Her hot green peepers did a slow up-down of him.
“Wow,” she breathed. “You’re freakin’ gorgeous!” She put her palm on his chest, the invitation in her eyes clear.
For some reason, the copper eyes of the firecrackerlaikaflashed in his mind. His jaw hardened, and he shut her out. The beautiful Guardian had no place in his horror-filled existence.
“Raincheck. If you’re still around later, we can have a go at it,” he drawled and stalked out, leaving the empty promise behind.
Gorgeousdidn’t equate to nice.
He was a monster, the result of a fucking twist of fate, one that should never have been allowed to live. But here he was, anyway, still breathing.
* * *
Tingle slid over Ely’s psyche as daybreak approached, despite it still being dark. She blew out a grateful breath, wanting to leave this failure of a night behind. With a quick look around, she rerouted her path to the narrow lane between two enormous warehouses and dematerialized.
Back at the Guardians’ island estate some distance from Manhasset Bay, she reformed on the castle’s front portico. Freshly fallen snow dusted the driveway and gardens and glistened under the moonlight. But all appeared quiet.
She crossed to the enormous front door, opened it, and stepped into the well-lit spacious foyer decked with lush plants and armored statues. As she unbuttoned her coat, her gaze lingered on the floor-to-ceiling stained-glass window of angels, and knights holding their females in a loving embrace.
After living a life in Empyrea and destined mates had faded to a myth, she now knew better. Heck, her brother had found his mate, and she lived in a castle full of them. But she didn’t see that happening for her. She always believed that she’d know the moment she came across her destined one. The draw would be instantaneous.
So far, nothing.
And eons old loneliness swamped her.
