Demon's Caress: Demon Heat Book 1 Read online

  Meaning all of them. Anger and horror wrestled for dominance within her. He couldn’t possibly mean it. He should know better, and she was damn tired of all three men trying to push her into a bond she didn’t want.

  When Raum and Kobal turned for the door, she stayed rooted where she was. Waiting for the door to close behind them, she took a deep breath and quashed her temper. Losing her cool with a high demon wouldn’t help her case.

  “Sir, this will not work.” She set her hands on her hips. “I’m more effective with female partners.”

  The big man rose from his desk and came around to her side. “Maron—”

  “You can’t say I haven’t tried males before. I have. It didn’t work.” Lifting her chin, she tried not to remember that time. Tried to push Shax from her mind. It was ages ago, and she would never make such a mistake again.

  Samael sighed and settled against his desk, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “You’re one of my best operatives, Maron.”

  “Thank you, sir.” She took a breath as the unexpected and unusual compliment warmed her.

  “But…” His eyes narrowed, pinning her in place. “I can’t send you out on more difficult cases because you don’t form deep enough bonds with your partners to raise the kind of energy required to cage that kind of darkness.”

  The bottom dropped out of her stomach, and she forced her expression to careful blankness. “I see.”

  “The most powerful operatives I send out in the field are bonded Triads. You’re one of my best, Maron, and I want to use you to the best of your ability. I can’t do that with the way things currently stand.” He scrubbed a hand down his face, looking tired. “I’ve made some mistakes with assigning you partners before, I’ll admit, but I want you to give this a chance.”

  Mistake. Yeah, that was one word for it, but in the end, the biggest fuck-up had been hers, not Samael’s. It would be easy to blame him for what had happened with Shax, but it wouldn’t be honest. “Sir, with all due respect—”

  “Try it for one more case. If it doesn’t fit, no harm, no foul, and I’ll pair you up with someone else.” Samael held up his hand when she opened her mouth. “A female, yes.”

  She gritted her teeth, biting back further arguments. “One case.”

  “Just one.” Nodding for emphasis, he met her gaze steadily, letting her know he was earnest. He wasn’t the type to jerk her around, and she had over a century of working for him to know.

  “Fine.” The word clipped out. While what he offered was fair, she still didn’t like it.

  He ignored her terseness. “Good. You can leave at nightfall. I’ll have details on your new target, so be in my office then. Take the day and get to know your partners a little.”

  “I know them well enough already,” she growled.

  Sniffing the air a bit, he cast her a wicked glance. “Yes, so I assumed. Perhaps try talking to them this time. Or not.” He waved a dismissive hand. “I don’t dictate how these matters unfold.”

  She cocked an eyebrow. “None of us would listen if you tried.”

  “Exactly. I don’t work with weak demons.” He straightened and moved around to sit behind his desk. “Go on. Out.”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir,” she drawled. Spinning on a heel, she then marched toward the door. The hinges squeaked a bit when she opened it, and she almost missed his snort of amusement.

  Chapter Two

  “Evening, Maron.” The huge demon outside Samael’s doors nodded as she stepped into the corridor.

  He was a guard, another order of demons who protected the hellmouths throughout the world. Those who made up the watcher order were the ones who lived the most like humans. Their job was to keep an eye on the mortal population and alert high demons like Samael when someone went over to the dark side. That was where hunters like Maron came into play.

  The guard’s partner stood the other side of the entry and grinned cheerfully. Guards did best in pairs, hunters in threes, and watchers were solitary beings. Why that was, no one knew. “Heard you nailed another one.”

  “Yep.” In the end, that was what mattered most. She’d stopped Norris from raping that human girl, and now the teen might have a chance to turn her life around. Maybe. Maron dealt with too much ugliness to have a lot of faith, but the possibility was there. “It was a rough one, though. I’m hitting the hay. See you guys around.”

  They grunted as she strode down the hall to the elevator, and that was the end of the conversation. This pair of guards was one of her favorites. They did their jobs with no muss and no fuss, which sat well with her. That was how she liked it, which was apparently something Samael looked for in his best operatives.

  Considering she’d almost flunked out as a hunter at one time, the rare affirmation of how far she’d come had been gratifying. But the idea stung that she could go no further, that she was stunting her own growth by not bonding deeply with her partners. A frustrated growl echoed in the elevator car as it shot up the many floors toward her apartment.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t work well with others—when she’d teamed up with Lilim, they’d brought down some serious baddies. Of course, Lilim had a yen for women, and her new Triad was with two other female demons. Maybe Samael had hoped Lilim would get Maron to swing that way and develop a sexual bond. She wouldn’t put it past him to try it.

  Failing that, it made sense he’d split them up, sending Lilim into a Triad and trying to throw Maron into one of her own. It behooved her boss to try to get the most out of his people, so she understood, even if she didn’t want to get on board with his plans for her.

  Plans that included her new—temporary—partners. Kobal and Raum. Who she was supposed to get to know today before she had to work with them again. Her body hummed with remembered passion, and the lace on her bra chafed as her nipples beaded. Her sex clenched in longing, and her skin heated where she recalled the feel of their hands upon it. She wouldn’t mind experiencing that again, if it didn’t have all kinds of strings attached. But a bond would put her right back where she was with Shax. Vulnerable, dependent, needy. Weak.

  No. Going back to that again was not an option. She shook her head, pushing away her ricocheting thoughts as she stepped out onto her floor.

  And froze. They were there. In her apartment. She could sense them as surely as she had when they were tracking her earlier. That her awareness of them was so gut-level and fundamental was not a good sign.

  She tightened her jaw and let her body dissipate until she could step through the wall and into her living room. No need to use the door and give them notice that she was coming in. Crossing her arms over her chest as she solidified, she hid her hardened nipples when the sheer physicality of them struck her again. Both were muscular, but chasing down evil didn’t allow for flabbiness. They were tall, and attractive in their own ways. Raum’s green gaze focused on her, the intensity almost magnetic, drawing her in when she wanted to resist. His pale gaze contrasted with his tanned skin and dark hair. His features were a little too sharp to be handsome, his jaw a little too square, but the combined effect made her want to take a second look. Or third. Kobal, however, was stunning. His face had an unholy beauty to it, nothing short of perfection. His hair was wheat blond, his eyes the pure cerulean of a cloudless sky. Energy seemed to pour from him, giving the impression of constant movement even when he was still.

  Compared to them, her own dark hair and eyes were remarkably unremarkable. She pushed away that foolish thought and arched her eyebrows at the two demons sprawled across her couch. “I didn’t invite you into my home, did I?”

  “We’re your partners.” As if that answered the question. Kobal gave her a cheeky grin that made her want to smile back and smack him all at the same time. “You’d look a lot happier if Samael had given you what you wanted. That means we’re still a team.”

  “For now.” She knocked his feet off of her coffee table. “Samael says I only have to work with you for one more assignment. If I don’t
want to keep you, I don’t have to.”

  Raum’s brows drew together in a deep frown, and a flash of disquiet crossed Kobal’s features before he smoothed his expression. “Well, I think you know which one we’d like you to choose.”

  “I don’t partner with men.” She slid her hands into her pockets and shrugged, trying not to dwell on the fact that their hands had been in her pants not a half an hour before. “It’s not personal, and I’m sorry if that means you’ll be disappointed when we go our separate ways.”

  Raum straightened where he sat, his sharp gaze locking on her, nailing her in place, but she refused to squirm. “You’re that sure you’ll drop us?”

  “Yes.” She made the word firm, uncompromising. There was no reason to lead them on. She had nothing against them, and it wasn’t their fault she kept men as far from her work as possible.

  Nope, that one lay solely on Shax’s doorstep, not that he would care. Her lips formed a bitter twist. Then again, he was lucky she hadn’t seen him in a century, or she might kick the demonic bastard in the balls.

  Kobal stood, capturing her attention as he paced in a tight circle around her. His shoulder brushed against her, and even that slight touch was enough to send goose bumps erupting down her skin. The chemistry was undeniable, and under different circumstances she would want to explore it. But Shax had taught her the danger of mixing business with sex. Kobal stopped beside her, and she fought the need to step back. She held her ground, even as the closeness set off reactions in her body that she wanted to quash. His gaze slid over her, stopping on her lips, her breasts, and the notch between her thighs that he’d touched so recently. His voice dropped to a silky challenge. “Samael wants you to spend some time with us today, right? Those were his orders?”

  There was the slightest of emphasis on orders, reminding her that she answered to Samael, whether she liked it or not.

  She stiffened and gritted her teeth, struggling with the need to kiss him. Or light him up with a flame ball. Not that it would do much to hurt him, but it’d make her feel better.

  “Leave her alone, Kobal.” Raum cast his partner a quelling glance, and to her surprise, he subsided. Then the green-eyed man looked at her. “Let’s have dinner together. Minimal commitment on your part, and you give Samael what he wants in good faith.”

  There was no demand in his voice, which made it easier to relent. In the end, it was a sensible compromise. It was not because she wanted to spend time with them. She sniffed. “Yeah, okay. I can do that. We’ll need to order in, because I don’t have anything here.”

  Kobal’s face contorted in an expression akin to disgust. “We can’t eat here. This place sucks. I’ve seen cheap motels that were better than this.”

  Raum groaned and dropped his face into his hand. “Kobal.”

  “What? It’s true.”

  Blinking, she looked around at her apartment. It sported the furniture that had been installed when Samael had the high-rise constructed. Maybe it was a little run down, a little…bleak. There wasn’t a single picture or memento anywhere, and she’d been topside for a hundred plus years, so she’d had time to collect some. And she didn’t remember the last time she’d gone shopping for food. The natural form of demons was ghostly—one of the qualifications for serving on earth was the ability to maintain corporeal form for long periods of time. As long as they stayed corporeal, they had to fuel themselves as humans did. She usually just grabbed something from the cafeteria Samael had had installed in the building, and when she was feeling really ambitious, she got Chinese take out from the place around the corner.

  “I don’t spend a lot of time here.” Which was pretty damn obvious now that she looked around. This place was no more personal to her than one of the motels she might stay at on a longer hunt. Her apartment was…pathetically lonely. Like the rest of her existence since she’d become obsessed with being the best hunter of all time. Since Shax had nearly destroyed her. She tried not to wince at the accurate description. “Um. Okay, we can go out. Or go to the cafeteria.”

  “No, we’re eating at our place.” Kobal’s jaw set in a stubborn line, his arms crossing over his muscular chest. “If we only get dinner with you, we’re not spending the time with a bunch of other demons watching. Or, worse, in public with mortals hanging around. Plus, by human time, it’s breakfast, and I don’t want that.”

  Raum shrugged. “I’m a fair cook. What do you like?”

  “Food.” She hated to agree with anything they said, but she didn’t want breakfast either. It was the end of her day, dinnertime. But like most of the evil creeps they hunted down, demons had to keep night hours. Plus, mortals tended to dismiss the strange things they saw in the dark as figments of their imagination, which helped demons catch their prey. “Nothing sweet. Just regular food.”

  A rare grin flashed over the sharp features of his face. “I think I can manage that.”

  She kicked herself for smiling back at him. She’d decided long ago to turn away from relationships and focus on her work, which wouldn’t leave her raw and stripped bare. When she was on a hunt, she was in control. She had a mission. She had a purpose. In a bond, there was no control—there was only pain and suffering and insecurity. Bonds could make her feel more alone than being single ever had. And no one was going to save her when a soul got so evil it almost sucked her into the vortex prison. She’d be tangled with that darkness for eternity.

  Horror curdled in her gut. It was good reminder of why she didn’t want a Triad, no matter how attractive or interesting she found these two demons.

  “This is it.” Raum held the door open for her, motioning her into the apartment, which was three floors above hers.

  She blinked when she stepped over the threshold. It was nice. Masculine and comfortable. The furnishings were straight lines and warm wood. The walls were medium blue, unlike her blank white walls. “This is pretty.”

  It was nothing like she’d expected from them. In fact, she hadn’t thought much about demons decorating their apartments to make them more inviting. Lilim’s place had been wild, with her own graffiti spray painted on the walls and hanging aluminum street signs she’d stolen, which had just made Maron shake her head and roll her eyes the few times she’d been there. But the men’s space was…somewhere to relax. She could feel her muscles unkinking as she walked around the open space, the kitchen, dining room and living room flowing together.

  “Mid-century, modern Danish style.” Kobal gestured to the furniture, then pulled out a chair at the dining room table. “I’ve collected the pieces here and there over the decades. It’s comfortable. Have a seat.”

  “I like it.” The longer she stood there, the more she could see how it fit them. Understated and not fussy, like Raum, but still eye-catching and compelling, like Kobal. That she was even thinking this way made her frown. It didn’t matter where or how they lived, so long as they did their jobs. She was never coming back to their place anyway.

  The bonus of eating here was that she could leave whenever she wanted. There was no way to force her to stay—she could evaporate through a wall if she needed to. If they’d stayed in her apartment, she couldn’t have kicked them out if they’d decided to hang around. This worked out much better, and not because she liked the feel of their place.

  She slid into the chair Kobal held out for her, crossing her legs under the table. Best to get this cozy scene of domesticity over with as quickly as possible and return to her solitary reality. “So, what’s for dinner?”

  “Steak. That all right with you?” Raum moved around the kitchen with the same quiet efficiency that he did everything else. He stopped for a moment to kiss Kobal. It was over in a moment, but the sight of their mouths meshing made her remember the night they spent in a cheap motel somewhere in New Mexico. They’d kissed then too. And they’d kissed her. They liked to touch. A lot. Heat bloomed inside her and she pressed her thighs together to quell the ache between them.

  “Yeah.” She coughed and glanced
away. “I like steak.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Kobal sauntered over and parked himself next to her, his shoulder and thigh crowding against hers. She almost swallowed her tongue as lust slammed into her. There was nothing sexual in the way he touched her, but it didn’t matter. No matter how she sliced it, she wanted him. Them. Hell, Raum didn’t even have to lay a finger on her to rev her up. It was hot to watch him.

  There was no safe place to look at this point. They were there, big and hot and far too sexy for her peace of mind. She shifted in her seat, which just rubbed her up against Kobal, and sent anticipation zinging through her system. She pulled in a deep breath, and her awareness expanded. She could feel the heat of them, smell them, sense the very essence of them. It was like when she hunted a dark soul, only far more pleasurable.

  “Give me a hand with this, would you, Kobal?”

  She startled when Raum’s deep voice rumbled from the kitchen, and sighed in relief at the momentary reprieve when his partner got up to help. The relief was short lived when Raum took Kobal’s seat beside her, his side plastered against her. Kobal sat across from her, offering her a smile that would entice an angel to fall.

  The men set three plates on the table, each one loaded with steak, steaming vegetables and rice. It smelled delicious. Her stomach rumbled, yet another need from her body demanding attention.

  “Thank you,” she said, pulling her plate toward her.

  “No problem. Enjoy.” Raum flashed a quiet smile when he watched them dig into the food.

  She shifted in her seat, biting back a moan when she rubbed against his broad shoulder and muscled thigh. Her breasts grew heavy, the crests drawing to tight points. The lips of her sex went slick with juices. It was too much—she wanted to scream, to punch something, to drag both men to the floor and fuck their brains out. Anything to release some of the tension that gripped her rebellious body. She stared down at her meal, eating mechanically. It was tasty, but she didn’t care. This was, without a doubt, the most carnally frustrating day of her life.