Fallen by Suzanne Wright

CHAPTER FIVE

Maddox sensed more than saw his sentinels stir, losing their deceptively lazy air in an instant.

Viper didn’t fail to notice. “You have no need to worry that I’ll share with anyone that descendants inherited this curse,” he told Maddox. “After all, we’re stuck with it, too. We don’t want it made public either.”

Maddox believed him.

“Your kind was right to keep it to yourselves. There were a few blood-drinking demonic breeds back in the old days. Feeding on blood, on life, made them too strong; it made them the strongest breeds, in fact. So other types of demon wiped them out.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that. We all are.”

“And so you keep it quiet, and you’ve supplied your lair with its personal hunting ground.” Viper pointed at him. “I like that. It’s smart. You make your prey come to you. You ensure your demons are always fed. You confine the feeding to one place, lessening the chance of your secret getting out.”

“You came to me because you want to use the club to feed,” Maddox sensed.

Viper nodded. “Unlike descendants, we need weekly access to ‘food.’ I’m planning to take inspiration from you and build a nightclub, but that won’t happen overnight. We need somewhere else we can go in the meantime. This place is open almost every night. It isn’t far from my clubhouse. And I’d feel better knowing that my brothers had their backs covered by demons that we’re allied with.”

Maddox took an unhurried swig of his whiskey. He didn’t form alliances easily. But, given how powerful Maddox sensed the Black Saints were, they’d make good allies—especially if angels really would come calling soon to wipe out his lair.

“I can agree to an alliance,” said Maddox. “But I’ll have a condition. I do nothing for free.”

Viper grinned. “I knew I was going to like you.”

“If, as you anticipate, beings from upstairs do come here looking to take out my lair, I may expect backup from you. You might not find it easy to provide that, because you may well personally know the people who are sent here. You’ll be expected to fight them, even if they’re friends of yours. Can you do that?”

Viper poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue. “It’s possible I may know those who’re sent after you—I can’t be sure either way. What I do know is that you don’t have to worry that I’ll fail to back you up. My brothers are my priority now. For them, yeah, I can do it.”

“Can you guarantee that they will fight at your side?”

One of Viper’s brothers straightened and said, “That will never be in question—we go where he goes.”

Maddox inclined his head and then met Viper’s gaze again. “If I allow your brothers to use my club, I’ll also have rules. One, they don’t cause fights or draw unnecessary attention to themselves. Two, they only feed in the VIP area, they heal the bite wounds afterward, and they ensure that the humans don’t remember the incident. I’m assuming that, as angels, you can all heal minor wounds?”

“We can,” Viper confirmed. “As can your kind.”

They could. Only Maddox could heal fatal ones. “Three, they only feed from my demons if it’s consensual. And lastly, they understand my anchor is completely off-limits—they touch her, they die.”

“Ah, yes, I heard you recently discovered your psi-mate. A succubus from Jolene Wallis’ lair. The first archangel to ever fall and copulate with a demon chose none other than a succubus, you know.” He leaned forward in his seat. “I agree to your terms, and I’ll ensure my brothers understand and obey your rules while here. So, do we have an alliance?”

“We have one.” Maddox shook the hand that Viper held out.

It wasn’t long after that the Black Saints left the office.

Carmen pushed away from the wall. “Do you think they’ll keep their word and provide backup if necessary?”

Maddox drained his glass. “Yes. They need us. And I don’t just mean because I’m allowing them access to the Damned. We’ve grown up craving blood. They haven’t. It’s all new for them. I think Viper wants his brothers to look at our lair and see that they can still have a life; that they’re not going through their struggle alone.” Maddox stood. “I’ll hold a meeting tomorrow and inform the rest of the lair about our new allies.”

“Don’t be surprised if they’re not excited by the news,” Carmen advised. “They never react well to change.”

Maddox sighed. “So I’ve noticed.” He looked at Hector. “We need to step up the security around here for a while—you know what measures to put in place.”

“It’ll be done,” said Hector.

“Warn everyone to be extremely alert. They’re already on their guard due to the number of descendant lairs that have been targeted recently, but that’s not enough.”

“I’ll make sure they all understand the need for vigilance,” Hector promised.

“Do you think it might be better if you ask Raini not to come here until all this has blown over?” asked Carmen carefully.

Maddox’s demon stiffened. “It’s not necessary. She’d be safe within these walls. And if any trouble did break out, one of us can teleport her home. Who’s on her right now?”

“Duncan and Hoyt,” replied Carmen, referring to the two most experienced members of the lair’s Force.

“Good,” said Maddox. “After tonight, I’ll be teleporting her to and from the club on days she’s due to come here. If for some reason I can’t personally collect her, I’ll ask one of you to do so. There’s no point in me doing it tonight, because she’ll already be on her way here. Hector, I want you to be the one who escorts her from the parking lot to the club and back again tonight. No one from our lair would harm her, but they also wouldn’t be mindful of her safety. I would have continued to trust Gunther to escort her if he wasn’t … indisposed.”

Hector grimaced. “That’s the third time this year we’ve had to put him in the mausoleum. I know it’s better that he’s there, but still.”

Maddox nodded. “But still.”

The mausoleum was situated in the cemetery of the private land he owned. There was also an old monastery, which he’d updated and modernized so it looked more like a hotel. The entire lair lived there—it was their idea of a private joke, really, given that they were far from holy. There was also a cathedral, which was where they held lair meetings.

He’d considered taking Raini to his land a time or two. He’d thought of showing her around the monastery, and fucking her in his bed. But he couldn’t guard the secrets of his kind if he brought her so fully into his world. That his kind drank blood was only one of those secrets, and it wasn’t even the worst.

Well this guy’s new, Raini thought as she locked her car with the key fob. Maybe her usual escort had a night off. This descendant was big and broad and carried an air of authority. Probably a sentinel. His eyes scanned the lot, searching the shadows.

“They’re in the Charger near the exit,” she told him.

He looked at Raini. “Who?”

“My from-afar-guards.”

His eyes narrowed. “You made them?”

“I grew up among imps. One of the first lessons my dad taught me is how to know when I’m being followed. He has that down to a science. It’s necessary for imps to learn that kind of thing, considering they often end up under police surveillance at some point. We use a lot of ‘code’ when speaking over the phone, because we don’t always know if the lines are being monitored.”

The descendant looked at her for a long moment. “I really don’t know what to say to that.”

Raini shrugged. “People often don’t.”

He grunted. “Maddox is waiting for you.”

She followed him to the side entrance and into the building. Her demon straightened at the sight of a woman standing near the elevator, clothed in a slinky “fuck me now” dress that beautifully complemented her every curve.

The male descendant’s shoulders went stiff. “What the hell, Marcella?”

The woman blinked. “Hector, hi. I wanted to go see … ” She trailed off as she noticed Raini. “Oh, hello.”

Was Raini really supposed to buy that overdone look of surprise? Apparently so.

“A succubus,” she observed. “You must be Maddox’s anchor.”

Raini’s demon did not like the proprietary way in which this heifer had spoken his name. Okay, so maybe she wasn’t a heifer. She could be a wonderful, compassionate, kind-hearted person … though Raini doubted it. She’d grown up around imps—she knew when someone was trying to fuck with her. Marcella was doing exactly that and so, yeah, the whole “heifer” thing was looking likely.

Hector made a sound of disgust. “You knew Raini was coming. The whole lair knew she was coming. And everyone knows that Maddox doesn’t like his time with her to be disturbed. So, I’m assuming there’s an emergency, because surely there’d be no other reason that you’d try to go up to his office now.”

“Really, Hector, it went right out of my head that she was coming,” Marcella swore—well, lied. “I just wanted to see if Maddox was busy and … it’s fine, I’ll come back later.” And it was perfectly obvious by the sexually suggestive hint to her voice that she wanted Raini to believe that Maddox and Marcella would do the dirty “later.” Ugh.

Hector towered over the woman. “Don’t think you can play games, Marcella. He’s not happy with you as it is. Don’t make it worse for yourself.”

Her eyes flickered. “What does that mean?”

“Exactly what you probably fear it means. Now go.”

Marcella swallowed and straightened her shoulders. She gave Raini a look filled with so much rancor that Raini’s inner demon hissed and prepared to surface, eager to drop-kick this bitch. But then Marcella gracefully swanned off.

Shaking his head, Hector whipped out his keycard and got the elevator ready to roll. Raini walked through the shiny metal doors and gave him a small smile. He only grunted again, and then the doors closed. Soon enough, the elevator came to a smooth stop at Maddox’s office.

Entering, she found the demon in question alone, talking with someone on his cell phone. That smooth, low voice … it did things to her body that she did not like. Things that made her skin heat and tingle and flush.

Her demon was equally affected by him, which made her feel a little better. It meant she wasn’t alone in this struggle.

Raini allowed herself a moment to take him in; to admire that far too attractive face and all that hard, lean muscle. It wasn’t only his looks that pulled her in. She’d always had a weakness for dominant men. She wasn’t sure why, she just dug the alpha male thing. And Maddox? Well, he was certainly that.

He projected a cool certainty that his authority wouldn’t be questioned; that what he said went. She’d never before met a man who oozed so much sheer absolute confidence. Honest to God, he was so self-possessed and sure of himself that it was kind of intimidating.

His gaze locked on her, sharp and unflinching. Even as he continued to speak into his phone, he swept that compelling gaze over her, noting every detail—the loose curls in her hair, the soft pink nail polish, the slim-fitting oversized white tee, the skin-tight jeans, and the black strappy shoes. Her mom had been in despair because Raini insisted on dressing casually.

Maddox flicked his fingers, inviting her further inside, and gestured at the small sitting area.

Raini took her usual spot on one of the two sofas. There was a glass of red wine waiting on the black glass table, as per usual. Beside the glass was a bowl of nachos—another constant. Maddox always set the scene, taking control before she’d even walked through the door of the building. Which she supposed was typical of someone like him.

Her demon rolled its eyes at his control-freak ways. Raini, too, found some amusement in the whole thing. That didn’t stop her from munching on a few nachos.

Once he’d finished his call, he slowly made his way toward her, a half-full glass in hand. Maddox never rushed—not when he talked, not when he moved. He did everything with a slow deliberation and sense of purpose, always alert yet relaxed … as if positive he could handle whatever came his way. He probably could.

His eyes flitted over her face. “You look better.”

“I feel better.”

He sat directly opposite her, his back straight, his gut sucked in, his thighs spread … pretty much claiming the space as his own. “I take it you rested today.”

“I didn’t rest, but I took it easy. I’m sure your men told you that I went to my mom’s salon. She was in the mood to do some pampering.” Raini crossed one leg over the other. “Again, thanks for healing me. And for making sure I got home okay.”

He shrugged and took a swig of his drink. “Someone had to. And the others didn’t know your alarm code.”

Raini snorted. “Jolene and Khloë are imps, Maddox. They don’t need alarm codes. Nor does Harper. She might be a sphinx, but she’s an imp for all intents and purposes.”

“She didn’t much like that I insisted on taking you home. She even objected.”

“You say that as if she forgot her place or something. You know, you need to get over this whole issue you have with others watching out for me. I have a big family, and they’re all very protective. As are my girls and Jolene. They can’t—and won’t—switch that off just because you’re now around. Maybe you could stop thinking of them as people trespassing on your anchor-rights and instead be glad that I have them.”

His brows lifted. “You think I would prefer for you to be alone in the world?”

“No. I think you want to be the main figure in my life. It’s totally a psi-mate thing, and it’s why so many demons struggle to accept their anchor’s mate. They don’t want to be second to the aforementioned mate—it’s a reflexive psychic response.” Raini doubted her demon would react well to Maddox claiming someone, particularly since he wouldn’t even give Raini the anchor bond. “Moving onto another subject, Marcella seems nice.”

He sighed. “Yes, Hector got word to me telepathically that she made a play downstairs.”

“She wants me to think you guys have a thing.”

“What she wants is to be my co-Prime. Why does that make you snort?”

“You’re too controlling to share the power you have. I’m kind of surprised that hasn’t occurred to her.”

“I’m sure it has occurred to her. But Marcella’s sense of ambition knows no boundaries. She doesn’t like to back down or give up. And now I’m done talking about her—she isn’t important. What is important is that you and I get one thing clear.”

She groaned and picked up her glass. “I hate it when you say that. It always means you’re going to tell me there’ll be a new thing you want me to do or allow you to do that comes under the whole ‘me not obstructing your attempts to ensure my safety’ condition.” And she went along with it without complaint for two reasons. One, she wouldn’t go back on a deal. Two, it was sort of fun to let him think he truly held all the control here. “What is it this time?”

“From now on, you won’t drive to and from the club. Either I or one of my sentinels will teleport you here and then later return you home.”

Raini narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

“It’s simpler and safer.”

“Simpler and safer,” she echoed. “You’re not thinking the dagger was deliberately hurled at me, are you? Because if so, that’s just plain paranoia at work. It hit me by accident.”

“I like to err on the side of caution.”

She sighed. “Fine, then go err.”

“You’re not going to object?”

“Object to not having to haul my ass all the way here and back home again? No. Teleportation is a much quicker and more convenient way to travel.” She sipped at her wine. “Did you find out anything about the dagger?”

“It’s too common a model to trace to a particular store or buyer. There was no magickal fingerprint on it, which you don’t look surprised by, so I’ll assume Jolene’s investigation revealed the same. If another attack is made on Knox, we may learn more. If there is a next time, you won’t get caught in the crossfire,” he said, his voice dark and cold.

“That’s the plan.” She felt a thoughtful frown furrow her brow. “It’s kind of weird that the guy struck when and where he did. He could have waited until Knox was alone. Well, he’s rarely alone in public. Still, Mr. Astral could have at least attacked when Knox only had a sentinel or two with him.”

Maddox knocked back the last of his drink. “Striking while Knox had a large entourage was a strategic move. As there was a high number of demons there, they arrogantly assumed they could take their attacker, so no one teleported to safety. There were several people, lots of confusion, plenty of chaos … and the fact that you were badly hurt got lost in the midst of all that. The attacker kept everyone distracted by astral projecting from one spot to another, giving the dagger time to do its job so he could retrieve the blade once it was done— although Knox was the target, the attack wouldn’t have been a complete failure so long as the dagger came back full of gifts that could be sold.”

Huh. She hadn’t thought of it like that.

Maddox drained his glass and then pushed to his feet. She watched his very fine ass as he headed to a high, circular table on which a few bottles were set.

“Pulling your power back … that was impressive, Raini.” He topped up his glass with more whiskey. “You effectively fought magick and broke a spell. That’s no easy thing to do.”

“Which was why I passed out.” Her demon was still rather aggrieved by that, viewing it as a weakness.

Turning back to her, he pinned her gaze with his as he took a swig from his tumbler. “I sensed the minute I first met you that you were powerful. Still, what you did last night surprised me—and not much does that. It makes me wonder, though, why Jolene never made you a sentinel. She doesn’t even have you on her Force.”

Ugh, well of course his sharp mind would go there. “I don’t want to be part of her ranks. She respects that.” Close to squirming at being the focus of those steely eyes, Raini casually stood and moved to the wall of glass that overlooked the dance floor.

“No Prime would let an asset go to waste,” he went on. “Jolene Wallis is a master manipulator. She knows how to get what she wants. If she truly wanted you in her ranks, that’s exactly where you’d be.”

He had the right of it there.

“But she’s content to let you do your own thing, which makes others assume that you’re not strong enough to be of any great use to her. I have to ask myself if she wants people to assume that.”

Raini gave him a quick glance over her shoulder. “Well, you have fun chewing on that.”

“Your demon issued me a warning last night. It basically indicated that you could kill me if necessary.”

The fuck?It took everything Raini had not to whirl around in shock. Why the hell had her demon done that? To tweak his curiosity? To communicate that it wasn’t weak, hoping to lure in the predator that he was? Right then, her demon only sniffed, not seeing a need to justify its actions.

Slowly turning to face him, Raini pointed out, “Everything can be killed. Except maybe for water bears. Also known as moss piglets. They’re eight-legged micro-animals that can survive just about anything. Radiation, extreme temperatures, starvation, dehydration, air deprivation, extreme pressures. You can find them in all kinds of places—volcanoes, Antarctica, rainforests. Some even survived a trip to outer space.”

One corner of his mouth quirked. “You don’t have to tell me about all the skeletons in your closet, Raini.”

“Why? Because you respect my privacy?” she mocked.

“I have no reason not to respect it.”

“And yet, you don’t. As evidenced by your final ‘condition.’ And you can’t deny that you also dug into my life and found out everything there was to know.”

Seeing no reason to deny it, Maddox shrugged and slowly stalked toward her. “I was curious about you. I wanted to find the answer to the puzzle.”

“What puzzle?”

Coming to stand in front of her, he replied, “Of why you’re my psi-mate. There’s never been a descendant whose anchor wasn’t a fellow descendant.”

Those lips he wanted to bite parted on a soft gasp. “Never?” she asked.

“Never. So discovering that a succubus is my anchor was … unexpected. But I haven’t yet found anything that would explain the phenomenon.” He was beginning to think there was no explanation. Some things just were. “As for my final condition … that wasn’t about invading your privacy.”

“But it does traipse all over it.”

True. “I don’t like that that bothers you, but I won’t undo what I’ve done.” And he’d be lying if he said that he had any regrets.

“Oh, I know that. And I’m not going to ask you to. I made a deal with you, and I won’t renege on it. But there’ll never be a time when what you did doesn’t bother me.”

“Even though you know I only did it because your safety is important to me?”

“I don’t believe it was only about my safety. I mean, knowledge is power, right? When a person has power, they can also have control, and that’s kind of your thing. Digging up all sorts of info about me and then finding a way to monitor my every move? That’s a whole lot of knowledge.”

It was, yes. And it did soothe his need to be in control. That same need rode his inner entity. “I’ve told you before, I don’t want power over you.” Which, of course, was a lie. He wanted to have some influence over her. Wanted to have a handle on the anchor situation, just as her demon had sensed.

She gave him a look that called him a liar. “Yes, you do. That’s part of the reason why you want to be my go-to person. The one I most rely on. But you can’t be that for me, Maddox.”

His demon narrowed its eyes and slinked closer to the surface. Maddox hiked up a brow. “I can’t?” he asked, sounding dangerous even to him.

“You already have the best of both worlds. Be content with that. Don’t push for more. You won’t get it. I’ll never feel I can fully rely on someone who’s singularly focused on their own wants. You do things that incidentally help or benefit me, but you don’t do them for me. You do them because you want to; because you don’t want others stepping on your ‘rights.’ Like a kid who’ll keep a toy they don’t much like rather than give it away to someone who’ll want it, because they quite simply don’t want anyone else to have it.”

Maddox felt his jaw harden. There was a whole lot there he did not like. “I don’t think of you as a toy.”

“You don’t think of me at all,” she said, sounding somewhat … sad, yet resigned. “Everything you do is about you. And I’m not condemning you for that. You are who you are, and I think a lot of it comes from being what you are. But that doesn’t change the situation.” She sighed. “I guess it’s a good thing we’re not officially anchors. It would never be an equal relationship, would it? You don’t fully respect me.”

All right, now he was getting pissed off. “Bond or no bond, you are officially my anchor,” he stated firmly, leaving no room for argument. His demon couldn’t agree more. “I have no idea why you’d believe I don’t see you as my equal, but that is not true.”

“No?”

“No.” He tapped her temple. “That psychic tag I put in here that bothers you so much … I could have planted that in your brain at any point and then taken away the memory of my doing it afterwards—you’d never have known the tag was there. I could have as easily embedded a compulsion in your mind that would force you to come to me whenever I called you. Kind of like a psychic bell. I’d ring it; you’d come … and you’d believe you were doing it because you wanted to. You’d believe the decision was yours and yours alone.”

Some of the color leached from her face. She stared up at him, her lips parted once more. He wasn’t surprised by the unease that flashed in her eyes. She hadn’t known until right then how psychically vulnerable she was to him. Most didn’t. Because despite the rumors of what he could do, people tended to believe that said rumors were either exaggerated or pure bullshit; that no demon could have that degree of psychic power. If it hadn’t been for his archangelic blood, he probably wouldn’t have.

She swallowed. “That sure would have made things a lot simpler for you, so why didn’t you do it?”

Finding that he didn’t like the wariness in her gaze at all, Maddox stroked his hand down her hair and made an effort to soften his voice. “I may be a cold bastard, but I wouldn’t turn my anchor into a puppet. So whatever you might think, I don’t view you as a toy. I might be mostly focused on my own wants, but not to the extent that yours don’t matter to me.” Which surprised him, to be truthful.

He edged a little more into her personal space. “You might not like it much, but you belong to me. I wanted a place in your life. I was set on getting it. But I also wanted you to come to me and grant me that place of your own free will. It quickly became apparent that you weren’t going to do that. So, yes, I took advantage of how desperate you were to save Khloë. I won’t apologize for that, because it would be a lie. I don’t regret it; never have, not even for a single moment. You wouldn’t have let me in your life any other way.”

She stared up at him again, her brow creased. “You outright baffle me at times. You have absolutely no wish to form the bond. At the same time, though, you’re so intent on having me around that you’ll stoop to wrenching deals out of me if it means getting what you want. I thought you might be firmly in the grip of a snare. But now … ”

“Now, what?” he prompted, whispering his fingertips along the side of her neck and down to the pulse beating there frantically, a temptation that made his mouth water.

“Now I’m seeing that you’re far too strong for one to trap you. Or even to be drawn in by the allure that sex demons exude.”

“And that unnerves you,” he sensed. “Maybe I’m not the only one here who likes control.”

Her frown deepened. “I don’t want to control people.”

“But you’ve always had the security of knowing that if you wanted to ensnare someone, you could,” he pointed out. “You could make them vulnerable to you. It gave you an edge. You don’t have it with me, and you don’t like it.” He half-expected her to go on the defensive and deny it. Instead, she went quiet, pensive.

Finally, she said, “Okay, maybe so. But I wouldn’t have tried to ensnare you.”

“And I wouldn’t have turned you into a puppet.” He cupped the side of her face and swept his thumb across her cheekbone. “What we can do and what we’re prepared to do aren’t always the same, are they?”

“N-no.” She licked her lips, making him think of biting them all over again. Maybe even biting hard enough to draw blood, just so he could have a little taste of her. Even the thought made his gut tighten.

He found his thumb brushing along her lower lip, following the path her tongue had taken. “I’m not claiming to be much of an ethical creature. I’ve done a lot of bad things. I’ll continue to do a lot of bad things.” He dipped his head, staring into those striking amber eyes. “But never to you. Okay?”

“Okay,” she said, her voice whisper-soft, but he wasn’t sure if she truly meant it.

“You don’t ever need to feel unsafe with me.” He lowered his head a little more, his mouth mere inches from hers, not hiding his intent. Satisfaction snaked through him when she didn’t push him away. “It doesn’t work, you know.”

Her brows met. “What?”

“Dressing down doesn’t make you blend. It definitely doesn’t make me want you any less. The more skin you cover, the more I want to see every inch of you bare.” He slid his hand from her cheek into her hair. He fisted the soft curls tight, tugging on her scalp enough to wrench a little gasp out of her. Her pupils swallowed the color of her eyes, and her plump lips parted. That was all the invitation he needed.

Raini gasped as he took her mouth, sweeping his tongue inside. If he hadn’t spent the past fifteen minutes or so touching her, stroking her, setting her nerve-endings on fire, priming her body for him, she might have pushed him away. Might have. But right then, all she wanted was more.

Kissing him back, she slid her hands up his chest and gripped his broad shoulders. His hand splayed on her throat while the other bunched her hair tighter in his fist as he fed on her mouth. That was how it felt. And she let him. More, she reveled in it. On being so wanted. Because for the first time in her life, she could be sure that the person kissing her wasn’t whatsoever compelled to do so. He might like what he saw, but he wasn’t bewitched by it. Wasn’t in the grip of a preternaturally triggered lust. He just plain wanted her.

God, he was so … sure in the way he touched her, in the way he devoured her mouth with such greed and urgency. Sure and bold and dominant, and so out of her fucking league.

A thread of reason moved through her mind, reminding her why this would be a bad idea. She broke the kiss and backed up, only stopping when she hit the window behind her.

He didn’t close in on her. He lifted a taunting brow. “What are you doing all the way over there? Scared, Raini?”

She adjusted her top. “I think it’s better if we keep things platonic, that’s all.”

Glittering with heat and need, his eyes narrowed, studying her intently. “Is that what you really want?”

“Yes.”

The air chilled as his eyes bled to black. Shit. His demon ate up the space between them with two fluid strides. “That was a lie,” it whispered, its voice monotone.

Yep. Totally.

“You can try fighting this if you want, but it will not work.” The demon tucked her hair behind her ear. “Still, by all means, try. He and I have waited this long to have you. We can do so a little longer. I believe it will be worth the wait.” And then the entity withdrew, and Maddox was once more looking down at her. “I’d have to agree with my demon on that.”

She shook her head. “This situation is complex enough. Adding sex into the mix doesn’t seem wise.” It would be insanely fucking satisfying, but not wise.

“That’s not why you’re backtracking,” he softly accused. “You’re afraid. You might not have liked that the men in your past were under the influence of some preternatural allure, but it’s what you know. And it meant they held no power over you. Any dominance they thought they had in your dynamics was nothing other than an illusion. But me? I’m immune to that allure. You like that. And yet, you don’t. It scares you that I might take you over.” He lowered his head, putting his face closer to hers. “More, it scares you that you might like it.”

Raini balled up her hands. She wanted to deny it. All of it. She wanted to firmly state that he hadn’t read her as well as he thought he had thankyouverymuch. But every word of it would have been a damn lie.

He cupped her chin, pinning her with that far-too-intense stare, letting her see the raw need there. “I will have you, Raini. Beneath me. Above me. Any way I want you. Any way my demon wants you. Yes, I suspect it will fuck you often. Very often. It won’t go easy on you. But then … neither will I.”