“There is no theory of evolution. Only a list of creatures I’ve allowed to live.”
—Xerxes, Sent One
CAN’T PURGE THIS RAGE.
Destruction’s roar was an endless scrape against Baden’s mind. The beast craved blood, pain and death as never before—or barring that, he craved satisfaction with Katarina. He needed one or the other, and nothing else would do.
“I’ll ask again.” Baden lifted Galen off his feet, pinning him to the wall. “Where is she?”
Galen’s mouth opened and closed, but he could only gasp for breath.
“Where. Is. Katarina?” William had flashed away seconds after referring to Baden as his brother, without telling him anything more about the wreaths. Soon after that, Taliyah had arrived at the safe house with pictures of Katarina. She’d smirked as he’d viewed the images of his woman smiling at Bjorn and Xerxes, as if the two were her favorite heroes.
When she left me, she looked at me as if I was a monster.
Taliyah had said, “Don’t bother going to the club. She’ll be gone before you arrive. I’ll make sure of it.”
He had tried to flash to the club, thinking of the place as his home—will murder the Sent Ones for touching what’s mine!—but it had been futile. Now he wondered if Hades had somehow fixed the loophole.
Next, he’d tried flashing to Aleksander, but it had proved futile, too. He’d tried flashing to Dominik with the same abysmal result.
Had he somehow lost the ability to flash entirely?
“We need her,” he shouted. “She’s our calm.” Their sanity.
“We? Our?” Galen finally managed to push out. “You want me to betray your girl?” He wedged his feet between their bodies and kicked. “We both know you’d kill me for that.”
Baden stumbled backward, losing his grip. “You don’t care about her, and you don’t care about me. Stop pretending.”
“You’re right. I’ve never cared about anyone but myself.” Galen straightened his collar and brushed an invisible piece of lint from his shoulder. “Do you want to know where I was the day of the assassin’s attack?”
“Not anymore. Tell me where Taliyah has taken Katarina!” Before I snap.
The warrior pretended not to hear him, saying, “I was in town talking to a therapist about the best way to help Legion.”
“I don’t need to know—”
“Yes, you do need to know. You don’t want to change your opinion of me. You don’t want to believe I’m trying to be the right man for her—the right friend for you. To you all. I would have brought you here, would have helped you, without any incentive, but you offered the one thing I couldn’t refuse. Now I’m going to help you whether you want me to or not.”
“The only way to help me is to tell me where Katarina has been taken.”
Galen’s smile was cold. “That, I can’t do. Not because I don’t want to. Taliyah isn’t sending me updates.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. This was his fault, not Galen’s. Katarina had wanted to be an equal with her man, as any sane person would, while he’d expected her to cave to his desires. As if her desires were somehow less important than his.
It hadn’t taken long to see his own stupidity. She was his most precious treasure. Why would he treat her—any part of her—with anything other than reverence?
“Go away,” he muttered. “I hate you, but I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You don’t hate me. You’re just a fan in denial.”
A flash of light erupted behind Galen, who turned swiftly, withdrawing a dagger from the sheath at his waist. Baden was at his side a split second later, his own trusty daggers in hand. But it was Keeley who appeared, not an enemy. She wore a matching bra-and-panty set and had rollers in her hair. Had she forgotten her clothing? This wouldn’t be the first time.
“Hey, guys.” She smiled and waved as if they’d bumped into each other at the supermarket. “Wait. I forgot you two even existed, so how did I—”
“Because of me,” Galen interrupted. “I’ve made sure to send you daily reminders. So. Why are you here? Alone?”
“Oh! Right. Taliyah left her with the Sent Ones, thought it’d be funny to send Baden on a wild-goose chase while Katarina was where he assumed she wasn’t, but the warriors called me back because of an emergency. I mentioned the emergency, right?” Keeley flashed to his broken nightstand and with a wave of her hand, fixed it. “I’m afraid I’m the bearer of bad news, fellas. Something marginally horrible has happened, but we’ll overcome it together. Because we’re family and that’s what families do. Or so I’ve been told by Torin.”
Destruction clawed at Baden’s skull.
“If the Sent Ones harmed a single hair on Katarina’s head...” They would be dead by sunrise.
“There’s a vein throbbing in your forehead,” Keeley remarked. “Are you having a stroke? Or did I not mention the situation is only marginally horrible?”
“Keeley.” Galen’s mouth curled at the corners. “Concentrate.”
“Right. The emergency. Lucifer offered to make Katarina immortal in exchange for her soul and—”
“What!” Baden roared. Such a bargain would come at too high a cost, no matter how much he wanted her to live forever. She would most likely become Lucifer’s slave, the way Baden was Hades’s slave. The vile deeds such an evil male would order her to do...
“Will no one allow me to finish?” Strands of her hair lifted with a breeze he couldn’t feel.
“Please,” Galen said, ever the gentleman. “Continue.”
“And the smart girl refused. I’m so proud of her!”
Only then was Baden able to breathe properly. “Tell me the horrible part.”
“Well. Lucifer has put a price on her head. She’s being hunted.”
Was she in danger even now? “Why are we still talking? Take me to her.”
“Wow. No wonder she left you. You think you’re king of everyone’s castle.” Keeley’s grin put Galen’s to shame, far colder than ice. “Good luck with that.” A second later, both Keeley and Galen vanished—and Katarina appeared.
Relief bathed him, a shower that washed away his anger. Even Destruction calmed. She had no cuts, no bruises, and was still in possession of each of her limbs.
Her anger clearly remained, however. Her gaze met his and slitted. “You!”
“Me.” He took a step toward her, but she swiped a dagger from the nightstand to ward him off. He dropped his own weapons, the ensuing thud echoing through the bedroom. “Where are our dogs?”
“My dogs are with Kaia.”
“They are mine, just as you are mine. Though I’m not commanding it be so. I’m simply hoping.”
“Oh, no! You aren’t—”
“I’m sorry. So very sorry. I missed you with every fiber of my being, Katarina. Your opinions matter. I will defend them with my life.”
She raised her chin and waved the dagger. “Interrupt me again, and see what happens. I dare you.”
A bolt of lust slammed into him, completely surpassing his previous anger. Her unwillingness to back down...her show of strength in the face of a dangerous situation...my beautiful female.
“I can take care of myself,” she said. “Today, I’ve proven it.”
He forced himself to admit the truth. “You don’t need me.” She could survive the world without him. She could thrive in the world without him. “But you still want me, and I’ll prove that.” He cupped his growing length and stepped toward her. “If you’ll let me. Please, let me.”
“No.” The tremor in her voice betrayed her. “No!”
He took another step toward her. “I’m begging, Rina.” He offered the words with ragged desperation. “Cut me if you must. Hurt me. But make love to me, too. I’m nothing without you.”
Her eyes sparkled. “How long will this sweet man remain with me?”
“Forever.”
“Because you still expect eternity, despite what I’ve said?” She hissed at him, again waving the dagger. “Kretén! You’re right. I do still want you. You made my body hunger for you.”
Her admission made him hard—as—stone, his erection swelling over the waist of his pants, a bead of moisture rolling from the tip.
She added, “But you also made my mind despise you.”
He could work with that. “I’ll do anything you demand. And, if you let me, I’ll make your body come and your mind forgive me. I just need a chance.”
She tossed the dagger to the floor. “Yes to the former, never to the latter. What I want from you? For you to remember making me come doesn’t mean anything or change anything. This is hate sex, nothing more. One last time. A final goodbye. Closure.”
Even as she spoke, he ripped off his shirt, tore the zipper of his pants and kicked the material from his legs. “Not goodbye,” he said. “You make your choice, and I make mine. I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth.”
“Oh, this is definitely goodbye.” Her motions jerky, she stripped, as well. “All stalkers will be shot on sight.”
Part of him missed the innocent human who’d vomited at the sight of blood, who’d beseeched him not to commit acts of violence. But he reveled in her bravery.
“You aren’t the only one whose body hungers, Rina.” His aches worsened as he drank her in. The rosy flush that darkened her skin. The plump breasts with the dusky tips. The flat plane of her stomach, the sensual dip of her navel. The heart-shaped flare of her hips, and the tiny patch of dark curls. Those long, endless legs.
No woman was more perfect.
“If you’re done with the inspection,” she said primly.
“For now.” He stalked forward, slow and purposeful. Determined. He was starved for her, wouldn’t spook her.
She backed up, doing her best to maintain a bit of distance. Not because she was scared of him, he saw no fear in her eyes, but calculation. The woman enjoyed taunting him. She planned to make him work for her.
He would love every second.
Anticipation drove him; he slanted to the right, sending her toward the full-length mirror in the corner. As soon as her back met the cool glass, she gasped, delighting him. He pounced, taking her by the shoulders and spinning her to face her reflection. Their reflection.
Destruction was already under her thrall.
With her back pressed against the heat of Baden’s chest, he positioned her the way he wanted her: her hands gripping the edge of the mirror, her legs braced apart. What a sight they were. A contrast of colors. His hair a deep red, hers a glossed onyx. His skin bronzed, hers burnished brown, poreless, flawless...made for his tongue, his hands. Every part of him. He belonged to her.
They were a contrast of textures. Where he was rough, she was smooth. Where he bulged with muscle, she teemed with softness.
He breathed her in as he cupped her breasts and brushed his thumbs over her rigid nipples. “I missed these.”
“No talking.” The breathless rasp of her voice fogged the mirror. “Only doing.”
“I can multitask.” He drew her earlobe through his teeth. “And Rina? You may be able to survive the world without me, but I can’t survive the world without you. We can’t. You keep us calm. You are our home.” And maybe that was why he hadn’t been able to flash. Home is where the heart is. He could no longer make any adjustments in his mind about what was and wasn’t his home. It was her, plain and simple. Always and forever.
She sucked in a breath, her eyes wide. “That’s...you just admitted to having a weakness.”
“I just spoke true.”
Slowly, she softened against him. She even rested her head on his shoulder, giving him better access to her elegant neck. He took full advantage, kissing and licking the succulent column with abandon, savoring her taste.
“You are the sweetest candy.” After giving her nipples a loving pinch, he traced his fingers down...down her stomach, stopping to dabble at her navel. All the while he ground his erection between the globes of her ass. “Last time, I took you without kissing you and vowed never to make such a mistake again. Please... I want your mouth.”
She shook her head. “No kissing. This is hate sex, remember?”
Harsh words, but her breathlessness buoyed him.
“Hate kiss me, then.” He would take her however he could get her. “Your taste is sure to be my ruin.”
Tremors rocked her against him. “There’s no such thing as a hate kiss.”
“Prove it.” And while she did, he would make her come so hard she screamed the house down.
She began to pant. A sheen of sweat glistened on her skin. She tilted her head up...and he waited, unable to breathe...desperate...
“I’ll kiss you, but only because you need to accept the truth. Give me your mouth.”
He smashed his mouth into hers before she could change her mind. His tongue moved on hers, and she moaned, meeting the ferocity of his feasting with a ferocity all her own. They ate at each other.
“C-convinced?” she asked.
“Not even close. Keep trying.”
She snagged his lips for another brutal kiss. His hand trailed down...down...and he speared his finger deep inside her. She was hot—searing—and she was wet—soaking.
“I think your body loves me,” he rasped.
Love. The word echoed in his mind, and longing unlike any he’d ever known welled inside him. He craved her love?
She ground into his finger. “More.”
“Your demand, my pleasure.” He pierced her with a second digit, and she cried out. He watched her reflection, fascinated by her reactions to him. Her features were soft with wanting, her hips arching to follow the thrust of his hand. Had any woman ever been so uninhibited? Satisfied because he was the man with her, and not someone else?
She reached around him, grabbing his ass and holding on tight, her nails cutting into his flesh. She can’t get enough of me. She’s mine for the taking. His control—already on edge—frayed. Madness ruled him.
He dove in for another kiss, pressing the heel of a palm against the source of her desire while cupping and kneading her breast with the other. More cries escaped her, and as one minute bled into another, the sounds came faster and faster.
She wiggled against him. “Baden. Please.”
Rapture flowed through his veins. Sweat slicked over him, over her, creating an easy glide. She released his ass to lift her arms and tangle her fingers in his hair.
Yes, yes. Her breaths turned shallow as she tugged the strands, angling his head the way she wanted it, silently demanding he possess her mouth harder, faster, deeper.
“Going to give you everything, Rina.” The need for release plagued him. Been too long without her. A day—an hour, a single minute—was too long. He slid his fingers out of her.
In protest, she bit his bottom lip with enough force to sting. Naughty girl. He flipped her hair out of the way, placed the hand wet with her essence on her nape and applied pressure, forcing her to lean forward until her cheek met the glass.
“Want you bare,” he said. She’d taught him to crave skin-to-skin contact.
“Yes. Please. No worries...the ward...can’t get pregnant...please.”
Ward? Keeley must have tattooed her with a symbol used by the Curators, the Red Queen’s people. A powerful race somehow able to both strengthen and weaken themselves with their mystical wards. Symbols from a time before the creation of humans.
As he dove down to lick the essence he’d left on Katarina’s skin, he positioned himself for entry—then drove all the way in.
Her climax was instant and all-consuming, her inner walls squeezing his length, milking it. He fought his own release, not ready for this to end, barely able to breathe, wanting—needing—more of her. But the more he pounded into her, the more fighting his climax ceased to be an option; in fact, it became nothing but an afterthought. Her climax still raged, still squeezed at him, his name a continuous purr on her lips, and a thick fog fell over his mind.
Mine. She’s mine. Will keep. Will have, again and again.
Yes, yes. So good. Nothing better. Will mark. Brand. Possess.
Control...lost.
He gripped her hips to hold her steady and thrust deep inside her one last time. He felt every wave of sublime pleasure as it left him, his body shuddering with the force.
Only when he was emptied out did her own orgasm end.
Her legs trembled, and he knew it was only a matter of seconds before she collapsed. He pulled out and scooped her up in his arms.
Panting, she rested her head on his shoulder. “See? Didn’t change anything.”
Only fooling yourself, krásavica.
“Sleep if you wish.” He laid her across the bed then gathered the proper supplies to clean their bodies. As soon as he finished, he tucked her under the covers. “I’ll protect you from anyone foolish enough to try and claim Lucifer’s bounty.”
“Don’t need—”
“I know. You’re strong.” He smoothed a hand over her brow. “And Rina?”
“Yes?”
“Kaia texted me about the change in you. The fangs and the claws.” He wished he’d seen the transformation. How beautiful she must have been. “The pups are hellhounds.”
She stiffened, saying, “That was supposed to be a secret.”
“Considering the questions you once asked me, I’m assuming they bit you at some point.”
Defensive, she said, “They didn’t do it to hurt me.”
“I know.” He knew Hades had been bitten by hellhounds, and now wondered if Pandora bore that part of him, thanks to the bands. The way Baden bore the Berserker. “If they’d wanted to hurt you, you would have been hurt. Badly. They must have done it to bond with you.”
“Like the goat-man bonded with Gilly?”
“In essence. I want you to know, whatever changes the bond causes, my opinion of you won’t be altered. I like you.”
Destruction liked her, too, despite the hellhound thing. He’d been without her, and never wished to experience such a horror again.
“No,” she said, sounding bitter, “you like me now that I’m stronger.”
“You’ve always been strong.” He stroked his finger along her jaw. “I pretended not to see it so that I’d have an excuse to protect you. But even the strongest of warriors need a watchman. Let me have the honor of being yours. I know I would love for you to be mine.”
Heavy-lidded eyes stared up at him, more green than gray at the moment. Her lips were red and swollen from his abundance of kisses, her cheeks pink from his stubble. “Maybe...maybe what just happened between us changed a few things,” she admitted, “but I’m still furious with you.”
He blew her a kiss. “Don’t worry. That makes two of us.”