Their eyes met and it felt to Gabriel as if the worldshifted, tilted, a sudden tectonic shift of the soul, before it righted itselfand everything fell into place once again as their gazes locked.
All Asmodeus had seen from the moment the newcomers enteredthe room was the woman, her silver hair so bright against the shadows and theblack armor of the men. Shock reverberated through him and with it came a sharpflare of recognition. Desire and need came suddenly, powerfully. At that shortdistance, the brilliant lights around him made details difficult but he couldtell she was lovely, he could sense she was strong in body, mind and spirit.His empathy echoed with her warrior’s soul. Her features were too youthful forthe streaming silver waves of her hair, her body too limber, her lush breastsstill high and full.
His hunger spiked and raged within him, nearly too strong todeny as she collided against him, all that lovely pale skin glowing beneath thelights, her bright spirit piquant to his senses. The scent of her instinctivearousal at the sight of him was a goad that gave spur to his hunger, set itagainst his will to drown it. Her skin was so soft—as soft as rosepetals—beneath his hands.
He had not touched any woman, much less one such as she, formillennia.
The chant battered him.
His will had been weakened by starvation, by the torment andisolation. It was all tangled up inside him. He hated this but he could notfight both the compulsion of his hunger and the compulsion that those who heldthem had set on him. Or the desire, the need, that sparked instantly at thesight of her, at the sense of her. And now at the scent of her as it rose to overwhelmhim.
He needed and she was the answer to that need, to all hisneeds. If she had protested…struggled…he would have fought, tried to denyhimself, to find a way, somehow, to fight his need, his hunger, but she didnot. Eyes as blue as the sky of this plane darkened instead with a like desireas they met his, her fine mouth softened as she swayed involuntarily towardhim. His hunger surged almost uncontrollably.
He hated it, hated the circumstances but he could give herand himself that much. Those around them would not watch as he answered hisraging hunger. He would take his punishment as it came—and come it would, heknew—with no regrets. A master of fire, even the iron bracelets they put on himcould not thwart him completely and he had just energy enough for the magic todo it.
Firepots appeared and smoke spiraled as it and the sharpscent swirled around them.
Need raged within him, nearly overwhelmed him. His fangsdropped, extended.
In one motion he turned her, clasped her against his body,his erection pressed hard against her bottom and lower back. One arm wentacross her chest. His hand automatically curled around one sweetly full breastand tightened there. The other hand caught a handful of her hair and drew herhead swiftly to one side.
“Forgive me,” he said. “I cannot… I must…” As quick as acobra, he struck, his sharp fangs sinking deep into the curve of her shoulderand throat.
Her blood filled his mouth.
Asmodeus shuddered with pleasure as she trembled in hisarms. His own need surged as his venom spurted into her, as his tongue flickedover her. The venom that would prepare her body for him, to allow him to feedfrom her, and then all thought vanished.
That first taste of her, of her soft, fragrant skin, nearlydestroyed him.
And in that first taste he knew. He knew what she would beto him, what she was to him. Mate, companion, the one he had waited so long toclaim but could not. The one who, in the long exile of his people, he’d neverthought to find.
Hope, impossibly, filled him.
He longed to touch. He needed her soft skin beneath hishands. When she quivered, his battered control nearly snapped, consciousthought was all but gone. All that existed was her, the sweet scent of her, herwarm body in his arms.
Those few short words were all the warning Gabriel had, hisvoice a deep basso rumble that echoed in her bones and in it a deep, abidingsorrow that resonated in her soul. There was a brief moment of apprehension,surprise. For all her training, it happened so fast she had no chance toprotest or struggle and a traitorous part of her didn’t want to. She didn’tresist, didn’t even try, as an unexpected anticipation sent a surge of heatthrough her.
Pain, as bright and piercing as an arrow, speared throughher as his teeth pierced her skin to sink into muscle. A brief flash of fear,then fear and pain were gone like vapor and in their place was theastonishingly brilliant heat that flamed beneath her skin. It seared throughher bloodstream to set her afire as it raced through her body from her head toher toes. She arched as the heat of it scorched through her. Had his biteinjected something into her body?
Gabriel ached, she burned, she needed desperately to betouched and to have him touch her.
His forked tongue flicked over the skin of her throat,tickled erotically against her ear as his tail twined around and between herlegs and caressed her sinuously as it glided warmly over her skin.
Power of some kind flared, shimmered across Gabriel’s skin.Her clothes were suddenly gone, her body bared to him and she finally had herwish as a clawed hand closed around her breast. Longing swelled within her.Those sharp claws scratched lightly at sensitized skin as his thumb brushedover her nipple. She cried out as pleasure streaked from her breast to hercore. Her pussy flooded instantly. Desire roared through her, nearly blindingher with its intensity.
Her hands clenched tightly over his muscular forearms. Hishot skin was close against her back, his long, thick cock pressed
