Mate to the Demon Kings by Lacey Carter Andersen

5

Back at their apartment,Ryder eased Sharen into the shower and crouched behind her so he could care for her injury. He washed the back of her leg gently with his large fingers. The skin was pink, but the blisters and burns were gone.

“You’re already almost entirely healed.”

Like a demon or an angel.Ryder forced himself not to frown. We need to figure out what the hell is going on with her. She’s changing. Every day seems to bring something new, and I don’t know what we’re supposed to do about it.

She finished scrubbing the soap out of her hair and glanced down at him. “Good, because I’ve got too damn much to do to be injured.”

“Like going on another mission…”

She sighed loudly. “Something like that shouldn’t happen again. It was just…bad luck.”

“Bad luck?”

He stared at her, knowing that even she didn’t believe the words she was speaking. Unfortunately for her, he could see right through her careful mask.

“Yeah,” she continued, sounding too casual. “A team of hunters just happened to enter the realm right after I did. If they hadn’t, I would have gotten away.”

Ryder didn’t want to say it, but he did. “I’ve never been one to believe in coincidences much.”

She rubbed soap on her arms, but her hands moved slowly. “All right, fine. I didn’t tell the others. But I thought the same thing.”

He waited, knowing what she’d say next.

“But the thing that really bugs me is how did they know I’d be there? Have they picked up on a pattern to how we’re doing things? Are they tracing us somehow? Or…or do they have a spy in the Rebellion?”

Ryder thought for a long time before he responded. “Either way, we need to be careful going forward.”

She nodded. “You’re right, of course. I’ll be more careful when I cross over tomorrow.”

He stood. A thousand things popped into his mind, but he said none of them. Sharen wouldn’t listen if he told her to slow down or to relax. She’d be angry if he told her that she was still reeling from being possessed and needed time to process all that she’d been through.

Instead, he said nothing.

He turned her around to face the shower wall and rubbed her tense shoulders beneath the hot stream of their apartment shower. Her head rolled forward and she groaned, a sound that made his cock harden.

He loved to take care of her. To make her feel loved and precious.

She needed that. She deserved that.

He worked every muscle on her shoulders, then moved to her back, and then slowly down to her lower back. She braced herself against the shower, breathing hard. He heard a crack.

“Damn it,” she muttered. She pulled her hands back from the shower wall and revealed the tiles clenched in her hands. She set them down on the bathtub ledge.

“It takes a while to get used to the strength,” he reassured her, rubbing her back again.

She shook her head, sighing loudly. “Yeah, but do my messed-up powers have to leave when I need them the most and then show up just long enough to ruin things in the apartment?”

He chuckled, thinking of their broken toaster. “Just don’t think about it.”

She nodded and let her head roll forward again. In moments, the tension in her lower back began to ease again.

How can any woman be so sexy without even knowing it?

God, did he want her. Staring at the hard lines of her body, he gloried in every inch of her. In the months since joining the Rebellion, she’d added far too many scars to her human body, but he loved every one of them. Yes, each scar meant that his woman had been hurt, but it also meant she had survived.

My tough warrioress.

As he leaned forward and kissed her shoulder, his gaze went to the fading bruises on her wrists. His chest ached at the memory of how Kade had to hold her down. He thanked God that Kade held fast. Ryder doubted he could have hurt her, even if it was to save her.

She spun around and slid her arms around his neck. Instinctively, he leaned down. The instant their mouths touched, fire leapt between them. Arousal and need awakened within him, drawing a groan from his lips. Her skin felt so soft beneath his hands, her mouth eager and ready.

He deepened their kiss, moving his tongue into her mouth. The instant their tongues slid along each other, she pressed herself harder against him. The tight nubs of her breasts pressed into his chest.

His hands slid down and grabbed her ass, cupping the soft cheeks and pressing her more tightly against his arousal.

She broke their kiss. “Come on, Ryder, give it to me.”

His hands tightened on her ass. “Your wish is my command.”

Just the thought of easing inside her made his muscles tense. This was exactly what they needed.

The door crashed open. “Almost done in…”

Ryder turned to see Alec standing in the door, grinning at the two of them.

“Got room for one more?” Alec asked.

Sharen nodded. “Better hurry, I’m already ready.”

Kade's twin pulled his tie loose before he started working on the buttons on his suit. In moments, he was naked. Alec joined them in the big, open shower and kissed her softly on the lips.

Then Ryder picked her up.

Instantly, her legs wrapped around his back. She sighed, slipping her arms around his neck. For a second, all Ryder could do was stare at the flawless lines of her face. He loved her high cheekbones and her stunning green eyes, but most of all he loved the way her expression relaxed when both of them touched her like this.

Our wife is the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.

Alec moved behind her. “I’ve got the best damned timing in the world.”

They touched her together, running their hands along every inch of her flesh. Alec cupped her breasts while Ryder trailed kisses down her throat. Her hot breath came out in pants, and her nails dug more deeply into the flesh of his shoulder.

Ryder rubbed his hard length in her wet folds, loving the way she shuddered with each stroke. He gritted his teeth, desperate to keep control as he carefully maneuvered his tip inside her. Then he pressed deeper, further and further as her tight body held him in a grip that made every nerve in his body scream with need.

When he reached his hilt, he took deep breaths, waiting for his brother. But he didn’t have to wait long. He felt her body tense as Alec entered her from behind. She gasped and her head rolled back.

They thrust in and out of her in a rhythm they’d perfected long ago, taking their time to draw out her desire. As she began to bounce on top of them, chanting the word yes, yes over and over again, Ryder's careful control crumbled away.

His demon side roared to life. He took her harder and faster. His grip tightened on her hips. When her inner muscles squeezed him and her nails dugs deeper into his back, she came, screaming his name.

He snapped, coming so hard it made his vision swim. God, this woman was incredible!

As he continued to thrust, loving the way her body drained him of every drop of his seed, he had to use every ounce of strength he had not to collapse to his knees.

Alec came behind her with a groan, and as he thrust harder, her body held Ryder tighter. He bit down on a string of curses, loving the pleasurable pain these moments brought. When his brother finished, they continued holding her beneath the spraying water, which had grown cold some time ago.

“Better?” he whispered into her hair.

She nodded.

Slowly, they eased her back onto her feet.

They showered again, quickly, and she went back into the bedroom to change. As Alec finished drying off, Ryder caught his arm.

“What is it?” His brother’s dark eyes narrowed, zeroing in on him.

Leaning closer, he kept his voice low. “She was possessed today.”

Alec’s expression froze. “She was what?”

“Her trip through the portal went wrong. A witch had to perform an exorcism.”

“Fuck!” Alec spun around and punched his fist through the wall, sending plaster raining down. “This has to stop! She has to stop!”

Sometimes I forget that even though Alec and Kade are different in so many ways, they both have the same damn temper.

Must be a twin thing.

Ryder grasped his shoulder. “Enough. Don’t let her hear you. She’s been through enough.”

“And how much longer before one of these trips of hers ends in her death, huh? How much longer are we going to sit by, helpless, letting her risk her life?” Red bled into his pupils as the demon within him roared to life.

“Stop it! Now! Do you have any idea how close you are to losing control? Do you want to ruin everything by bringing every angel in the area straight to us?” Ryder’s own anger flared to life.

The red faded from Alec’s eyes. “Sorry. I just…I love her.”

Ryder smiled, a smile that hurt. “I know. Me too.”

After a second, Alec leaned against the wall, closing his eyes. “Does Kade know?”

Ryder took a deep breath, adjusting the towel around his waist. “He helped get the demon out and then killed it. They’re sort of pissed at each other right now.”

Alec laughed, shaking his head. “What else is new?”

A comfortable silence stretched between them for a long moment.

“Seriously though,” Alec asked, opening his eyes and holding his gaze. “How long can we keep this up?”

Ryder shook his head. “For as long as she needs us to.”

The worst thing is that she’s right.

Ryder’s thoughts moved to his time spent in the demon realm. It had been…awful. He’d felt himself changing day after day and he hadn’t known how to stop it.

He was used to a world of beauty. On earth, he had always been the person who valued each and every day. He’d awaken in the mornings to watch the sun rise over the ocean, sometimes already lying on his surf board. He’d listen to the waves and feel the kiss of the sun’s rays on his skin.

His world had been filled with peace and appreciation for all that the world had to offer. But after his death…he’d gone to a place devoid of life.

He shuddered, not wanting to remember the dark pits where light couldn’t reach. How long had he stumbled around a foreign place completely blind? How quickly had he learned that he’d need to kill to survive?

Too fast.

And without beauty, without life, Ryder had felt himself fading away.

Until Sharen.

“Alec?”

His brother raised a brow. “Yes.”

“Would you abandon the Rebellion if Sharen did?”

Alec was silent for too long. “I don’t know. But I would abandon it if I knew it would keep her safe.”

Ryder nodded. “When I think about leaving other people like us in that place…”

“I know,” Alec said.

And yet, we aren’t the ones risking our lives.

He knew the exact same thought had entered his brother’s mind, because he turned and headed for the bedroom. His shoulders were slumped and he walked slower, as if the weight of the world rested on his back.

But it doesn’t. I’m here. I’m always here.

When Ryder entered the room, he found Sharen in bed, fast asleep. He and Alec dried off some more, then climbed in next to her. But even though Alec fell asleep quickly, sleep eluded Ryder.

A few hours later, he still lay awake when he heard a soft sound in the living room. He watched as Kade came to stand in the doorway of the bedroom. His brother stared at Sharen for the longest time, then turned and went out to the living room.

Ryder wanted to go out and tell him not to sleep on the couch, that Sharen wasn’t really mad at him, just the situation, but he knew it was pointless.

Some things just take time.

Just like saving the demons.

And figuring out how the hell we’re going to help the Rebellion while keeping our wife safe.

That question kept Ryder awake long past the sunrise…which he didn’t watch. He simply lay awake, letting the question roll through his mind.

Becoming a demon had changed him. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he watched the sunrise. But then, in his old life he’d never laid awake watching a woman sleep, falling more in love with her with each moment that passed.

How is it that even when I feel like I’ve lost myself, I don’t regret it because I found her?

Despite everything, he finally fell asleep with a smile on his face.