“The agreement is null and void as of this moment. You have two minutes and forty seconds remaining.”
Before Alec could do so much as protest the cavalier overturning of an agreement that had stood between Abaddon and the Dark Ones for centuries, Asmodeus disappeared in a cloud of oily black smoke.
Chapter Nineteen
“Are you sure this is a good idea? There’s a whole bunch of people after us, and they’re bound to know we’re here.” I turned the lock on the door, just to make sure no one could get into our room.
“What people?” Alec asked.
“Eleanor, for one. That lichmaster dude for another.”
“Bah.” He waved them away, moving toward me with a familiar glint to his eye.
“Maybe I should feed you again. You only got enough blood to get your engine running before Pia and Kristoff left to take Ulfur back to Italy with them. I know you’re still hungry.”
“I’ll feed in a bit.”
I hesitated, worry riding uppermost in my mind. “Not only are those vamps still out there, and likely to come back and drag you off to the Akasha, but more importantly, you were literally almost ripped in half. Perhaps we need a bit of caution here. The healer did say that your injuries might take a bit longer to fully heal.”
Alec gave me a sloe-eyed look, and before I could so much as rip off my clothing and fling myself on him, he had me naked and on the bed in one of Sally’s non-Abaddon spare rooms.
“I’m fine,” he answered, rubbing his hips against me, the bulging nature of his fly more than enough proof that he was just as anticipatory as I was. But still, I had to be sure.
“No, seriously, I think we should wait.” It was a feeble protest at best, but I couldn’t in all good conscience give in to the hunger that claimed us both.
“You want me as much as I want you,” he murmured in my ear, his breath hot on my neck, his hands tormenting and teasing me with sensual little touches that immediately aroused my deepest passion. “I know you do. I can feel that you do.”
“I think the fact that I can’t keep my hands off you is a dead giveaway to that little fact,” I said, grabbing his hands to keep them from further investigating my chest.
He stopped nibbling my neck and pulled back enough to frown at me, his beautiful green eyes narrowed slightly. “Why do you reject me?”
“I’m not rejecting, just delaying, and I’m doing that because I want to make sure that you’re OK.”
“I’m fine,” he repeated, his hands diving back into breast central.
I squirmed out of his hold, rolled off the bed, snatched up his shirt, pulling it on quickly lest my own needs and desire drive me back into his arms. Luckily for my good intentions, the stark, horrifying memory of Alec lying torn apart and bleeding against the ballroom wall was more than enough to sober me up. “So you say, but I’m a doubting kind of person until I can see things for myself.”
“The best way for me to prove to you that I have healed is to make love to you,” he said, gliding toward me with a look that a panther probably gave a particularly succulent bunny in his path.
“No, the best way to prove it is to strip and let me see your—”
He was naked before the words had left my lips.
It took me a few minutes of allowing my gaze to caress the long, mouthwatering stretches of muscle lying so sleekly under skin that I knew was warm and satiny and tasted so very good.... With an effort, I stopped the path down which my brain was heading, and reminded myself that just a short time earlier he had been almost killed. “Nice try, but I refuse to allow you to distract me that way. Now, let me see. . . .”
The blast of power hadn’t acted on Alec with the precision of a bladed instrument, meaning the thick scar that ran from the center of his chest to the top of his shoulder was jagged and uneven. It was also thick, and still red, and when I laid my hand on it, I could feel the heat as the flesh continued to repair itself. I let my fingers move upward to his neck, gently touching the twisting, angry-looking red seam that stretched from his collarbone around the side to the back of his neck. It, too, was hot to the touch.
Alec was clearly in no condition for the acts he so obviously desired, but if I told him that outright, he’d just scorn my concern and do what he wanted—giving me the most profound, intense pleasure without a single thought of whether it would harm him. I couldn’t let him stress himself, obviously, but how was I to stop him? It was useless to tell myself to just ignore the lure he posed, because that just wasn’t possible, and we both knew it.
No, I’d have to tell him he was going to take a new, much more passive role for the afternoon’s activities.
“Are you finished touching me?” Alec inquired politely. “If you are, it’s my turn.”
“No,” I said with a laugh as I pointed to the bed. “Lie down.”
His frown returned. “You are being dominant. Evidently you are under the impression I like that in my Beloved. While it’s true that I’m prepared to explore new things with you, I have never been one to take enjoyment from being passive.”
“Alec, less than an hour ago I thought you were dead. I know you think you’re perfectly fit for lovemaking, but I don’t think you are, not really. However”—I held up a hand to interrupt his protest—“I am willing to admit that you’re absolutely right in that I want you more than anything I can think of, so I’m willing to indulge us both, providing you let me do things my way.”
“What way is that?”
“For one, you let me seduce you. I know that you don’t normally like that, but—” I blinked as Alec, after staring at me for a moment, ripped the blankets from the bed standing across the room, and flung himself down on his back, his hands clasped behind his head, his feet wiggling in anticipation. I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Come and seduce me, Beloved,” he said in an arrogant, demanding voice. “I am willing to let you take the lead this once, so long as you do it now, and don’t waste any more time in telling me I’m not healed enough to pleasure you as you deserve.”
I laughed again, and slowly, so as to tease just a little, unbuttoned his shirt that I still wore. His eyes lit with faux outrage as I deliberately took my time working my way down the line of buttons, making sure I stroked my hands over my hips (which seemed to hold some fascination for him) all the way up to my breasts.
“Take off the shirt,” he demanded, his breathing erratic as I stood, considering him for a moment.
“You’re the only man I know who can be simultaneously demanding and submissive.” I started to take off the shirt, pausing at the heat shining so brightly in his gorgeous green eyes.
His eyes widened as I grabbed my jeans and jerked them on before turning on my heel and marching out of the room.
He spent the next ten minutes alternating between ranting at the way he would punish me if I didn’t return to him that exact moment and telling me exactly how he wanted to make love to me. The former I ignored, but the latter made it extremely hard to carry on a coherent conversation with Sally, whom I found sitting in a sunny bow- fronted room with Terrin, sipping tea and eating petits fours.
