Just as he’d imagined, he used two fingers on the inward glide. She was so wet she drenched his hand, so needy her inner walls clung to him, trying to hold him captive. This was how a woman should always feel. Ready. On the next inward glide, he used three, just as he’d craved. His thumb rubbed at her clitoris, never ceasing the pressure.
So desperate was her need, she erupted quickly and violently. Her scream echoed from the walls, her knees squeezed his sides so tightly he knew his ribs would crack, and her nails raked his pecs, leaving welts. And when the last tremor left her, she collapsed on top of him, panting, eyes closed, skin sheened by a delicate layer of ice.
Amun was panting just as forcefully. What had just happened…he’d never experienced anything like it. That hadn’t been the simple fulfillment of a need. That had been the birthing of an addiction. An obsession. He had to have more. Had to have everything. Now, always.
Haidee’s lack of inhibition, her willingness to please him, her absolute claiming of him — for that’s what she’d done — had utterly changed him. In an instant, the old Amun had been burned to ash, and a new Amun had risen up.
Haidee’s man.
He’d been stupid to try and push her away, he realized now. Stupid to try to ignore the attraction between them. He’d only hurt and frustrated them both. Here, they
No one would ever have to know, which meant she wouldn’t be ridiculed, wouldn’t be punished or ostracized by her friends. And so they would; they would be together. He simply couldn’t be without her.
While they were here, he was forced to remind himself.
When they left hell, they would part. He wouldn’t disturb her life any more than he already had.
His hands curled into fists. Gods, even the thought of being without her blackened his mood. He would not be swayed from that course, however. Through his suffering, he would know Haidee lived as she was meant. Happily. Finally.
Secrets gave a little whimper, and Amun frowned. Did the demon not want to lose Haidee, either?
Another whimper sounded.
Understanding dawned.
The demon gave no response, but a response wasn’t necessary. He knew.
He and Secrets had never had a true conversation, and he could hardly believe they were (almost) doing so now.
As if Haidee sensed the direction of his thoughts, she struggled to sit up. Amun held tight, forcing her to remain against him.
«Promise?» she asked, the word slurred with exhaustion.
«’Kay.» She hadn’t noticed his failure to specify exactly
Chapter Twenty-One
Something hard and inexorable shook Haidee from the most peaceful sleep of her life. She tried to bat the offender away. The shaking continued. She cursed and blinked open her eyes to see Amun looming above her, his expression tense, his black eyes unreadable.
He pressed a firm finger over her mouth before she could utter a single word.
Of course someone was out there, she thought dryly. She and Amun were in a division of hell; they weren’t allowed a single moment’s respite. And now, their long overdue relationship talk would have to wait. Again. Still, this was better than the alternative. Like, say, dying.
As she donned the bra, panties, jeans, T-shirt, boots and countless blade and sheaths he’d laid out for her, she marveled at the change in herself. Only a few days ago, she had jolted to awareness every time she’d awoken, mind already locked on escape. Now, when danger had never been so prevalent, she’d let down her guard. She even had to remind herself not to think about what they’d done last night, how she’d sucked and swallowed him, how she’d ridden his fingers and cried his name.
She shivered as she listened for whatever had disturbed Amun. Nothing, she heard nothing. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and anchored the backpack on her shoulders. When they— Her ear twitched, and she frowned. Was that a…whistle of wind? No, she thought. Laughter. Faint but unmistakable now — and coming from more than one source.
Laughter in hell. Not good. No, not good at all. She glanced at Amun to gauge his reaction.
He looked alert, on edge, as he stood guard at the cave entrance, his back to her. He wore a black shirt and black slacks, and each looked buttery soft and flexible. That way, he wouldn’t be restricted during a fight. Silently she moved behind him.
He sensed her approach and started forward. She remained close on his heels as they left her new favorite place in the world. They should have entered another cave, a rocky hallway at the very least. That’s what had happened every time before. This time, however, they entered — no, surely not. She shook her head, blinked her eyes. She couldn’t be seeing what she thought she was seeing, but the image never varied.
He saw it, too, then. A freaking circus. Unreal! After the Realm of Shadows, a circus seemed like a spa vacation. Seriously. The restrictive walls of the underground had given way, stretching into what seemed to be a pretty, moonlit night. Stars even twinkled from their perch in the black-velvet sky, a cool breeze dancing past.
A moon…a sky…in a cave. How? She stopped wondering when she saw that several fires crackled nearby, and there were bearded women and jaundiced-eyed men holding their hands
Okay, so «spa vacation» had been the wrong term to use.
«Amun?»
Too-tall men with legs that knifed toward the sky walked by them, thankfully paying them no heed. The animals they led, however…the elephant whined, its trunk lifting, revealing fangs sharper than any demon’s. Worse, there were several winged lions, two unicorns that were foaming at the mouth and three crocodiles with blades rather than scales protruding from their backs. Each of the animals was bound to the men by a fraying rope — and each was fighting for freedom, their gazes locked on her, the tasty-looking human.
She gulped, glanced away for fear of egging them on. «I don’t like this.»
Tent after tent lined either side of her, a graveled pathway between them. At the end of that pathway was a booth, and inside that booth sat an obese man in a sweat-stained wifebeater. A neon sign flashed above him. ADMISSION: ONE HUMAN HEART.
Another realm. She almost groaned. «None of this was here last night,» she said. «I would have noticed on our way into the cave.»
