Shit. Just… shit. In an effort to keep from sounding terrified, she smiled glibly. “And how do you do that?”

A trickle of blood ran down the sword’s edge, but before it reached the tip, the metal soaked up every drop.

“Usually I can smell it. See it. Sense it.” He swung away from the sword and nailed her with black eyes so intense that she took an unbidden step back. “But you… it’s like I should be picking up on a secret, but something is blocking it. I’ll find out what it is, Blaspheme, so why don’t you just tell me now.”

“Why don’t you go fuck yourself?”

“I’d rather fuck you.”

His crude words became images in her mind, and damn her False Angel desires, because now all she wanted was to turn the images and words into action. Sweaty, naked, throbbing action.

Besides, she’d be fooling herself if she thought he was going to give up trying to bed her, and he clearly was a hellhound with a bone when it came to what he believed she was hiding. Trying to stay away from him wasn’t working, and she had no doubt that he wasn’t going to just go away.

It was time to opt for preventive surgery and cut him out of her life like a suspicious tumor. And like any good doctor, she’d use every method she had at her disposal, including what little aphrodisiac she had remaining on her wings if necessary.

“Okay, then.” Her mouth actually watered in anticipation of what she was about to say. “I have a proposition for you.”

One black eyebrow shot up. “I’m listening.”

Summoning every ounce of False Angel magic she had left, she sauntered over to him. Slowly. Seductively. He thought she was different, so she’d show him exactly how identical she was to the species she was pretending to be.

The crazy thing was that this all felt so natural. Crazy, because the FA enchantment should be wearing off, not intensifying her desires.

“Sex,” she said, lowering her voice to a husky, deep False Angel drawl that drew males like a magnet. “I’ll fuck you if you’ll take me to Underworld General.” His gaze darkened dangerously. “But only once. Just enough for you to get me out of your system.”

Male triumph lit his expression. “Agreed,” he rumbled. “I’m sure once will be enough. It always is.”

She should have been happy to hear those words. At best, sex had never been anything but a pleasant diversion from real life, and at worst, it had been a necessary cover for her False Angel persona. But for some reason, Revenant’s casual acquiescence stung. It made no sense, was completely illogical.

And yet, as she stepped into his hard body and his erection pressed into her belly, all she could think was that his interest in her had never been about her.

It had always been about his dick.

“One more thing,” she said.

His hands closed on her hips, gripping them possessively. “What’s that?”

Very deliberately, she grasped his arms and shoved them away from her body. “You don’t touch me unless I tell you to. Not with your hands, not with your mouth, and not with your fangs.”

He looked like he’d been slapped. “Say again?”

“Those are the rules. During sex, you don’t touch me. After the sex, you take me to UG.”

“Why the fuck can’t I touch you?” he growled.

“Because I don’t trust you. Show me that you can keep your word. Show me you can keep yourself under control.”

A vein in his temple throbbed. “This is a… rule?”

“Yes.”

For a long time he stood there, so motionless she couldn’t even see the rise and fall of his chest. And then he inclined his head, his black-as-midnight hair falling forward in a sexy curtain she wanted to wrap around her body.

“If that’s the only way I can have you, then so be it.”

Casting him a sultry False Angel smile, she slid her fingers beneath his waistband and tugged him toward what she hoped was his bedroom. If not, her take-charge attitude was going to fizzle like a rain-drenched campfire and she’d look like a fool.

But, she supposed, looking like a fool was better than being dead.

Fifteen

Revenant’s body was on fire.

As he let Blaspheme lead him to his bedroom, he marveled at how easily his little False Angel had gotten him to concede to her demands. He’d always been the one to control sexual encounters, to say when, where, and how it all went down. Hell, when a female went down, it was because he wanted her to.

And now this gorgeous, mysterious False Angel was leading him around by his cock, literally, and he was allowing it.

But then, at the end of the day, he was male, and he’d do pretty much anything for sex. Truly, if more females understood the power they held over males, they’d rule all the realms.

He willed the candles in the wall sconces to light up as they entered the bedroom.

“Dungeon chic,” Blaspheme said, taking in the shackles anchored to the stone walls. “Nice. And a little cliché, don’t you think?”

“Clichés exist for a reason.” He started to reach for her, cursed, and yanked his hands away. Rules were rules. Even if they were infuriating.

She stopped at the foot of the bed and turned to him, her hand still gripping his waistband. The tips of her fingers brushed the head of his erection as she shifted her hold, and his body responded instantly, spiking his heart rate, his blood pressure, his breathing… Shit, he was going to stroke out the first time she really touched him.