Incubus Awakened by Kitty Thomas
19
Anna attempted sleep, but she couldn’t wipe from her mind the fact that Luc and Karen were downstairs in his room. And it was her fault. He could have been with Anna. But then what? He couldn’t be with her the following night. Or the night after that.
She was supposed to sleep with him in shifts? Like the favored number-one wife? It was already practically killing her to know he was touching someone else, whispering sweet words in her ear, kissing her. Like he’d kissed Anna.
The alternative if she wanted to be with him was out of the question. Couples who got married after just a week or so weren’t notoriously known for their happily ever afters, and handing over your soul was a bit more than just marriage. As far as she knew there was no equivalent divorce.
Independence was important to her, possibly more important than anything else. When she was twenty-one, she’d taken her college degree, flipped her father off like a child, and ridden off to Atlanta on the back of Vince’s Harley.
Quinton’s response had been to cut her off, at least for awhile. She’d gotten a crappy job and a shitty apartment and joined the real world. A world without debutante balls and charity luncheons. It had been wonderful because she’d been free.
Luc was asking her to give him the one thing she’d fought too hard to acquire. But she couldn’t deny that her body cried out for his, and her heart and mind were well on their way to agreement.
The best and simplest solution would be to stay the hell away from him. Let him have the harem until she could get him out of the house and they could part ways.
If he would even let her go. The bond seemed to mean something almost sacred to him now, assuming demons held anything sacred at all.
If she hadn’t had the morbid reminder of the last two girls he’d killed, she’d likely be romping it up in his bed this very minute. Anna shuddered. She could still feel his hands on her body, his mouth on hers, coaxing her to dance with him. She was never getting to sleep.
She’d just slipped her hand between her legs for the drug-free version of an Ambien, when the door opened. Her ghostly voyeur was back. Of course he was. He wouldn’t miss a show like this. He probably had a mystical demon-cam on her that went off anytime she moved to do anything even the slightest bit sexual.
Her movements stilled.
“Don’t stop.”
Anna’s heart rate jumped. “You just fed.” Her cheeks were hot at being caught.
He moved to the bed with that beautiful grace only Luc seemed capable of. Her breath caught as he settled on the edge. The light from the hallway filtered into the room, highlighting the muscles of his chest. She licked her lips.
“Yes. I did.” He eased the covers back, revealing the pale pink satin gown. He growled low in his throat, approving the choice. “Did you wear this because I like it so much?” He traced his hand lightly over the material.
An involuntary shiver.
“N . . . no. It’s the middle of the summer. This is the only thing cool enough to sleep in.”
He let the lie slide.
“Touch yourself. I want to watch.”
From any other man, the request would have seemed crass, but Luc made it sound like ice cream on a hot day. Tempting, but innocent.
“I can’t.”
“I’m not asking to sleep with you, I just want a little . . . taste.”
“I’ve never . . . ”
“You’ve never done this for anyone before? No man has ever asked to watch you?” He seemed to weigh the honesty of her words.
She shook her head, wishing she was lying.
“Please?” he said.
She wasn’t an exhibitionist. Hell, she was a lights off kind of girl if she wanted to get baldly honest about it. No kinks, nothing fancy. But the please was her undoing.
Anna started to wriggle out of her panties. “Close the door.” She couldn’t believe she was doing this.
“But it would be dark,” he said reasonably, a hint of teasing in his tone.
“And you can see me just fine.”
“But I want you to see me. I could turn the light on?”
She shook her head again. The light from the hallway was quite enough, thank you. She moved her hand to cover her mound, her fingers teasing the edges of her clit.
“Lift the gown.” His voice was so low it was practically a growl. It crawled inside of her, awakening something wanton that had lain dormant for far too long. She pulled the soft satin up over her belly to expose her lower half.
His eyes glowed. “Spread your legs wider.”
She didn’t know what prompted her to do it, but she slipped two fingers inside herself and started pumping slowly in and out.
“Faster.”
Every word he commanded, she obeyed. She had no idea what had gotten into her, but it wasn’t letting go. Anna could feel the moisture slipping down her thigh. Her stomach tightened in the most pleasant way, and she wondered exactly how much she’d missed out on sexually. Not just with Luc, but with anyone.
The door standing open had bothered her at first, but now it excited her. She found her mind going down naughty little paths it never would have ventured toward before Luc.
Her fingers began working in tempo to the soft growls the demon emitted. She couldn’t stop the moan that escaped her throat.
“Look at me. Don’t take your eyes off mine. I want you to watch me while you come.”
She did as he asked, wondering if he could see the color flood her cheeks as she met his eyes. He moved his hand over her, not touching, just hovering over her flesh, running the contours of her body. When he moved his hand a little higher away from her skin, still tracing her curves, her body arched involuntarily closer to meet him.
“Do you feel it, Anna?”
She could barely find her voice to say, “Yes.”
He was feeding. Small, gentle pulls of energy. A warmth spread through her, and she knew it wasn’t just her approaching climax. It was Luc. She hadn’t expected his feeding from her to be its own kind of orgasm.
“You like it?”
“Yes,” she breathed.
“Come for me now.”
Anna heard a keening sound and was shocked to realize it was coming out of her as she went into a free fall.
Then she lay there, panting and flushed, looking anywhere but at Luc. She moved to pull her nightgown down, but he stopped her with one hand, gripping both of her wrists together.
With his free hand, he ran a finger over her wetness and inside her. Then, without ever breaking eye contact, he slipped the digit into his mouth and sucked off her juices. He released her wrists, leaned over, and kissed her on the forehead.
“Goodnight, sweet Anna,” he said, before withdrawing from the room.
.. . Anna knew immediately where she was. She was looking into the eyes of Beatrice. She recognized her from her picture. This was where it had all started. She could feel Luc’s growing impatience.
“I can’t keep sharing you like this,” Beatrice said. “I can’t. It’s killing me. I love you, and I can’t stand it when you walk out that door to sleep with someone else.”
Luc growled. He wanted to shake her. Why the fuck was she so stubborn? “I’ve told you how it has to be. I can give you what you want. It can just be us, but there’s only one way it can happen. I’ve explained the ritual to you. You’d give me your soul, and I’d bring you over.”
“You’d kill me, you mean,” she said, as if catching him in a lie.
“You can’t die. Your soul is immortal. But you can’t sustain a permanent, exclusive relationship with me while trapped in a human body. You know that.”
She looked away. He felt the sorrow pouring off her, and her fear. His voice softened. “Beatrice, I love you. I don’t know what you’re afraid of, but I’d never hurt you.” He reached out to touch her, but she pulled away.
He’d spent weeks combing the libraries, reading everything he could about the mating ritual that could bring a human woman and an incubus together. He’d never had a hard time convincing any woman to do anything before. But Beatrice wouldn’t be moved.
“I’m sorry, I can’t do it. You must be insane if you think I would give my soul to a demon. I could never go to Heaven. I’d be tied to you forever in this . . . limbo.” The last word came out with disgust.
A piece of him broke.
The scene shifted. Something different stirred the air as Luc entered the house, and Anna knew he’d just left his freedom behind. Beatrice stood with her arms crossed over her chest, satisfaction shining out from her eyes.
“You’ve just cheated on me for the last time,” she said.
He growled in frustration. They were back to this again? “I told you, I’m not cheating on you. You knew what I was, what I have to do, and you keep punishing me for it.”
“I won’t share you anymore.” Luc opened his mouth to speak, but she held up a hand. “And I won’t do that, either.”
“Why not? You love me. I love you. This isn’t that difficult, Bea!” He was pacing now.
“You’re a demon. And I’ll never let myself forget that. Ever!”
Anna felt the pain lance through him at the easy way the woman he loved spoke so callously, and she hated Beatrice for it. If the woman hadn’t already been dead, she might have killed her herself.
“Fine,” he growled. “I love you, but I’m done. You spend all your time accusing me. You refuse to give even an inch. I will be leaving now.” There was a finality in his tone, and Anna wished things were different, that he’d made the choice just one day sooner, before Beatrice had the chance to wrap the house in magic.
He slammed the door against the wall and tried to go through it but bounced off the barrier. The shock and betrayal overwhelmed him as he turned toward her.
“What. Did. You. Do?” Luc felt the glow start in his eyes as the heat rose within him. He had to fight back the change, though at the moment, it was tempting to let her see just what she’d locked herself up with.
He stalked toward her until she had nowhere to run, slamming one hand against the wall on either side of her face, blocking her in.
She laughed at him. It wasn’t a laugh of victory, but of sadness and resignation. “I can’t live without you, Luc.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I know.”
Panic coursed through him. Oh no, that wasn’t her plan. It couldn’t be. “Beatrice, I have to get out. I have to feed. I was just with you last night. You don’t know what you’re doing.”
Her sad eyes met his, the tears sliding down her cheeks. “I know what I’m doing,” she whispered.
The scene shifted. Anna felt the beast barely restrained in his cage as Luc paced, and Beatrice waited. She seemed calm, accepting. Her long, silk nightgown was transparent, and it was driving Luc crazy.
He hadn’t fed in five days. Maybe if he’d taken a small amount at a time, he could have been careful. But he was afraid he’d hurt her. He snarled and shoved her against the wall, sniffing her like she was the best meal he’d ever had. And she was because he loved her.
Now that he’d had her, he didn’t want anyone else. He had to do whatever was necessary to scare her into reversing the spell. “Bea undo it NOW! Undo it or so help me, I will slowly torture the life from you.” His words came out hard and guttural, barely human anymore.
“Will you?” she asked smoothly, meeting his eyes in challenge. He couldn’t smell a drop of fear on her.
Luc slammed his fist into the wall next to her face. “You bitch! What have I ever done to you?”
“It’s not what you’ve done to me. It’s what you’ve done to every other woman you’ve been with. How many before me did you let live?”
He looked away, ashamed. She was the first one, and she knew it.
When he turned back to her, the expression on her face was smug. “That’s what I thought. And you can’t imagine why I can’t trust you with my immortal soul?”
“We’ve been together for months . . . ”
“Months too long. I’m lost to you now. I know it. I wish I was strong enough to leave or let you leave me, but I can’t.”
“I’ll kill you. I don’t want to, but I will. Please Bea, let me out. Let me go.”
“No.” She let the straps of the gown slip from her shoulders. The fabric fell in a whisper to the floor. “Take it,” she said simply.
The hunger tore through him as he moved forward, unable to stop himself. He felt as if he hovered outside his body as he grabbed hold of her.
Luc took her there on the couch, listening to her soft cries and moans of pleasure until they died away, leaving nothing behind but her memory. She went slack in his arms, and for the first time in almost five hundred years, he cried.