Pleasure Unbound

Chapter 25

Tayla lost Lori, but she found Eidolon.

Sig, Warren, and Bleak were circling him, sharp blades drawn. Bleak was limping, and a steady stream of blood ran from Warren’s nose, but Eidolon had taken a good beating, as well. Deep cuts scored his back and arms, and his bared teeth were tinged red.

Those sons of bitches.

He said something she couldn’t hear. The machete and a morning star fell from his hands, clattering to the asphalt. What was he up to?

The guys backed off, suspicion darkening their expressions, but when Eidolon did nothing, they closed in, smiling, mocking him. Their taunts cut her like any blade, the things they said to him, the vulgar names she’d once used. She launched herself across the span of space. At the same time, Warren struck Eidolon from behind, a scissor kick to the spine. Eidolon crashed to his knees.

“No!” she screamed, and four heads whipped around. “Take them, Eidolon! Forget what I said!”

But he stayed where he was, a willing sacrifice. “Go! Get out of here.”

Good God, was he insane?

“This is my choice.” His voice throbbed with something sinister and foreign even as the swirling glyphs on his face began to glow and set in his skin. “Better them than you.”

A chill went through her, jerking her to a halt. The Guardians all paused, their curiosity temporarily overriding their training.

“I won’t force you to have to kill me, lirsha.”

“How fucking sweet,” Warren said. “Now kill them both.”

Oh, Jesus. That was the wrong thing to say. Eidolon’s face contorted with possessive rage. The air around him practically shimmered with menace.

“Touch her and die.” Eidolon exploded into action, came to his feet in a flash. His red-eyed glower lit the darkness, and then Bleak was flying backward, crashing into a fence before crumpling to the ground, momentarily motionless.

She joined the fray, striking Sig in the jaw before nailing him with a hard kick to the gut. The bite of a blade in her shoulder made her yelp and miss a step. As she careened off a tree trunk, an inhuman roar shattered her eardrums.

Eidolon had morphed into some sort of horned demon she’d never seen before. Shredded clothes hung from a frame that was taller by half, twice as wide, and his sharp-toothed jaws held Warren between them, dangling off the ground.

Sig launched himself at Eidolon. Bleak leaped to his feet and came at her, his fists crunching into her ribs. Screams tore into the night, accompanied by wet ripping sounds, and then Bleak was lifted violently into the air. Eidolon held him in his jaws as he’d done Warren… who was now in pieces on the ground, something she could have gone her entire life without seeing. Sig lay crumpled in an unnatural position at the base of a nearby oak tree.

“Hellboy,” she said gently. He swung around to her, hell on two thickly muscled legs. “Drop the human. He’s not a threat anymore.”

He raised his head and sniffed the air, his red eyes going to the cut on her arm. A low growl erupted in his chest, and his jaws tightened until Bleak cried out.

“I’m okay.” She moved toward him, her arm outstretched. Gently, she laid her palm on one leathery biceps. “Please. Put him down.”

Abruptly, he opened his mouth, and Bleak plopped on the ground. Eidolon’s arms came around her, and his hot breath fanned over her neck. Behind him, Bleak stirred, but didn’t make any stupid moves.

“Thank God, Eidolon. I’m so glad you’re okay.” She stroked his massive back as he hunched over her, long, slow passes to calm him. That she was petting a beast, the very type of demon she used to slaughter with relish, struck her so hard it reverberated to her soul. She loved this beast. It didn’t matter what he was, what she was, or what either of them had done in the past.

Eidolon’s weakness is you. But you could also be his strength.Gem’s words from earlier in the day rang through her head.He loves you.

And yes, he’d been ready to die rather than hurt her, proof, perhaps, that he really did want her. Tears stung her eyes, and she began to shake.

“Please, Hellboy,” she whispered. “Come back to me.”

The next time I shapeshift, I might not come back as myself.

Beneath her fingertips, she felt his skin soften, his body grow more supple. “Tayla…”

She gasped as he palmed her ass and hauled her hard against his arousal. He was back, but his eyes still glowed red, and the swirling tattoo on his face remained. One hand tore at her shirt, but she didn’t resist, lesson learned during the Soulshredder disaster. This would be her last chance to save him, and herself.

“Eidolon, it’s not safe here. We need privacy.”

Growling low in his throat, he swept her up and carried her to a nearby building, a veterinary clinic, if she had to guess. The door was locked. In one powerful move, he kicked the door open. It crashed into the wall behind it, and before the building had stopped vibrating from the impact, Eidolon had placed her on a desk. When he stepped between her thighs, her legs came up to lock around his of their own accord.

“I want you,” he said, his tone a rough command, and her body heated, went wet at her core as though it had become trained.

“Yeah, that’s pretty clear.” She grasped fistfuls of his torn, bloodied T-shirt and pulled him close, needing full body contact as her skin came alive.

“That’s it, Tayla.” He tore her pants in his haste to remove them. “Show me what you want.”

She wanted him. Whatever it took.

Her voice shook as she blurted, “Bond with me.”

He reared back, breaking her leglock. “Bond? No.” Red eyes glowed in the darkness. She thought she saw a flicker of gold break through, but then it was gone, and his guttural rasp drifted down to her. “Fuck? Yes.”

Shit. He’d warned her that if they waited too long it would be too late. Desperation clawed at her as the reality set in. She couldn’t lose him now. Remembering what she’d read about his breed and their mating rituals, she tore off her shirt, fumbled with the fasteners on her ankle holster, and withdrew her stang. Before he could blink, she sliced through the front of her bra and drew the blade across the top of one breast. Pain surged through her, followed by a double burn of lust and love.

“Taste me.”

His chest heaved as he lowered his gaze to her breasts. Reaching up, she threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled him toward her, but just as the heady sensation of his hot breath fanning her skin hit her, he jerked away, eyes wild. He palmed the cut, and the familiar vibration shot through her as it sealed up. Every one of her injuries knitted together before she could pull away.

“Please, Eidolon,” she whispered. “This is what you’ve wanted your entire life. You want a mate. Children. You want to be a doctor. Take me. Claim me.”

He groaned, and this time, when he looked at her, his eyes were gold, molten brilliance. “Be… sure,” he panted. “Can’t hold on… much longer…”

“I’m sure.” She toed off her sneakers and pulled him tight between her thighs again. “Hurry.”

Instead, he kissed her. Gently, leisurely, as if they had all the time in the world. Then, as though to make up for time wasted, he hauled her off the desk and yanked down her pants. As she stepped out of them, he settled on the desk and lay back. One hand gripped the edge with white-knuckled force, and the other released his arousal from his jeans.

“Climb up.” His voice was a tense rumble, spoken through clenched teeth, and she knew they had not a second to spare. “This has to be voluntary. You must initiate it and offer it, the way I did with you in my room.”

Anticipation made her sex clench and weep as she straddled him, knees braced on the desk, hovering over his rigid shaft. His hands opened and closed at his sides as though he wanted to grab her. In one quick motion, she sat on him, burying him deep. He shouted and bucked, and the expression on his face could have been ecstasy or misery.

He bit his lip so hard he drew blood as he strained to remain still.

“Hurry, lirsha, hurry,” he rasped. “Your wrist. Feed me.”

She’d dropped her stang on the floor along with all her other weapons when she’d undressed. Shit. Thing was, she knew better than to not have a weapon within reach. That was what he did to her, made her so crazy with lust and love that all her training, all her hatred, disappeared.

She looked down at him, at the way he was watching her with a laser focus. Little flecks of red broke through and she knew they’d reached critical mass. She tore his caduceus pendant from his neck and stabbed the tiny dagger into her right wrist. It hurt; the blade was dull, but it did the job. Quickly, she forced the cut against his mouth. His right hand, the tattooed one, closed on her left. He threaded their fingers together so that from shoulder to shoulder, they were one long, sinuous piece of artwork. The connection, wrist-to-mouth, hand-to-hand, pelvis-to-pelvis, created a circuit, an electric path that made her scream with the intensity.

She rocked on top of him, writhing with no sense of rhythm or regularity. Her body did what it wanted. Every nerve ending tingled. Her head spun. Eidolon surged against her as she churned above him. The loss of control barely registered in her mind, should have been frightening, but nothing had ever been so intense, so good. She was falling, and Eidolon would be there to catch her.

Sensations popped all over, on her skin, in her veins, and when he pulled deeply on her wrist, it felt as though an erotic string connected her wrist to her sex. She whimpered her approval as he sucked harder and her sex clenched with each draw from her vein.

“I feel you inside, Tayla… Gods, I love you.” The fingers on her hip tightened. “Oh…damn!” He threw back his head and shouted, slamming his hips upward with such force that she came off the desk. Their tattoos glowed red fire and then she came, a full-body orgasm that went on and on.

Heat flowed through her body, her lungs burned, and the blood in her veins sizzled as she collapsed on top of him, panting, dizzy.

“Hold still,” he said hoarsely, and a mild buzz vibrated her wrist. He was healing her cut.

“Is it over?” she asked.

“Yes. Can you feel it?”

“Everywhere.”

On her skin, in her body, in her soul. She could sense him, could almost touch his thoughts, and she knew exactly what he was feeling.

Peace.

She knew, because she felt it, too.

Tayla and Eidolon’s peace was short-lived. The sounds of battle and screeches of pain rang out in the night. She didn’t even have time to fully explore the way the markings on her arm had darkened and set, shimmering on her skin. Quickly, they dressed. At the door, Eidolon stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

“You weren’t a last resort.”

Emotion nearly choked her as she reached up to cup his cheek, where no sign remained of the facial tattoo, though there was a new one on his neck, two connected rings circling his throat. “I know. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry about Roag.”

“Shh.” He made a sound, a near-purr, and his hands came up to hold her palm against him in a gesture so tender and loving she felt it in her soul. “The future is what matters now. Because of you, I have one.”

“Because of you, I feel like I finally belong somewhere.”

He crushed her to him, his mouth finding hers in a demanding, dominating kiss that nearly made her forget where they were. The hold he had on her, a cage of safety and devotion, anchored her love for him firmly in her heart.

This was what being wanted felt like.

“We have to go,” he murmured against her lips, and she nodded.

Reluctantly, they headed for the zoo entrance, where, they hoped, Gem would be waiting with her parents. Instead, they found Lori, arms wrapped around herself and looking lost, standing beneath the gate arch. When Lori saw them, she paled, and Tayla watched the woman who had been her leader, her mentor, as she backed up against the wall of the abandoned gift shop.

“Leave me alone,” she said. “You don’t understand.”

Tayla snorted. “You’re right. I don’t understand how you could cheat on Ky.”

Shame flashed in Lori’s eyes. “I didn’t mean to hurt him—” She blinked at Eidolon as though she’d just noticed him. “You… you look like Wraith.”

Eidolon nailed her to the wall with hard eyes. “How do you know Wraith?”

Lori didn’t seem to hear. “Are you an Elder, too?”

“Elder?” Tayla asked. “As in, all-powerful Guardian Elder? A member of the Sigil? You think Wraith is an Elder?”

“He charged me with organizing a team to bring in demons. Our orders came directly from the Sigil. It was to be kept secret…” Crimson splotches mottled Lori’s pale skin. “Why am I telling you anything?” She turned to Eidolon. “She’s a demon. A traitor. She infiltrated The Aegis.” She turned back to Tayla. “You’ll be executed for that, you know.”

Tension cracked in the air around Eidolon, snapping so she could almost see sparks. “What made you believe Wraith is a Guardian Elder?”

Lori huffed. “He said he was.”

Eidolon and Tayla exchanged glances, and she knew they were thinking the same thing; that Wraith could have used his mental powers to make Lori think he was whoever he said he was.

“Anything else?” Tayla asked.

“You don’t speak to me, demon bitch.”

“Okay,” Tayla snapped. “I’ve had it with you. Eidolon, do you have some sort of truth serum at your hospital?”

“We have something better,” he ground out, but he didn’t finish, because Wraith burst out of the foliage—apparently the roads and walkways were too easy—brushing off his hands.

“Wraith,” Lori whispered. “Thank God.” She moved toward him, shooting a withering glare at Tayla. “They don’t seem to understand. And someone is releasing all the demons. Were you aware that Tayla is a demon?”

Wraith glowered at her. “What are you babbling about, human?”

A patient, worshiping smile curved Lori’s mouth. She reached for him, and he leaped away from her with a hiss. Frowning, she advanced. He retreated.

“Let her touch you,” Eidolon said.

“What? Hell, no.”

“Wraith! Do it.”

Wraith let loose a nasty curse, but he planted his feet and braced himself, going stiff as a rod, as Lori folded herself against his chest. She seemed to be in an almost druglike stupor, melting into him, as loose as he was strung tight.

So. Weird.

“Is it him?” Eidolon asked quietly, and whoa—thanks to their bond, Tayla felt his fear like an icicle in the heart. He was terrified that his brother might be involved in the black market organization. “Is he the one who enlisted your help to capture demons?”

Lori rubbed her cheek on his chest, ran her hands up and down his body, each touch making Wraith grow even more rigid. “Touch me like before…” She sounded intoxicated, and Tayla suspected she was affected by the incubus magic that seemed to emanate from them. Tayla knew the feeling.

“E…” Wraith said, his voice a strangled plea.

“Just hold on, bro. It’ll be over in a minute. Lori, is it him?”

God, Tayla hoped not. If Eidolon’s own brother was involved…

“Jesus Christ!Is one lover not enough?” Kynan, bruised and bloody, stood behind Eidolon, gaping at Lori and Wraith. Battle-lust burned in his eyes, and Tay wondered what had happened to Jagger. Ky sat solidly in the camp where thought had fled and only rage remained. He lunged for Wraith. Eidolon tackled him, one thick arm going around Ky’s waist, the other jammed against his throat.

They tumbled to the ground, Kynan shouting obscenities, Eidolon doing his best to calm him while pinning him to the pavement.

“We need to know what she knows!” Eidolon said, a few times, and gradually, Kynan grew still, though his nostrils flared and his lips peeled back as if he wanted to take a piece out of Eidolon with his teeth.

Breathing hard even though she’d just been standing there, Tay turned back to Lori and Wraith—and gasped. Wraith’s fangs were buried in Lori’s neck, and she’d gone limp. One of his arms was wrapped around her waist, and the other had dropped between them, his hand working her jeans zipper.

“Uh, was that supposed to happen?”

Eidolon twisted around and cursed. “Wraith. Shit.” He eased his forearm off Ky’s throat and looked him square in the eye. “I’m going to let you up. Don’t make me regret not killing you.”

“You’ve got to trust him, Kynan,” Tayla said.

Aggression permeated the air, and strangely, Tay could feel it on her skin, as though the battle-rage the two males were throwing had raised the temperature… not enough to register on a thermometer, but enough to jack up her body a little. It was sort of… arousing. She couldn’t wait to get Eidolon somewhere private so she could discover more neat perks of the bonding.

Kynan’s only response to Eidolon was a low growl and a nearly imperceptible nod, but it was enough. Eidolon pushed up from the ground, and after making sure Ky wasn’t going to leap on him, he inched toward his brother. “Release the human.”

Wraith’s gaze shifted to Eidolon, his eyes fierce and golden, his nostrils flaring. As Eidolon drew closer, Wraith pulled back, bringing Lori with him, a feral animal protecting its prey from approaching scavengers.

“Wraith,” Eidolon said softly, “easy. Release the human female.”

That did it. Wraith’s eyes shot wide, his teeth disengaged, and he stumbled backward. Eidolon caught Lori as she sagged to the ground.

Panting, his pupils dilating and contracting wildly, Wraith collapsed against a gate. When Kynan rushed forward, Eidolon handed Lori off to him and went to Wraith. Footsteps and screeches still rang out in the night, so Tayla kept watch while the drama she didn’t understand played out between the four humans and demons.

Kynan settled Lori against a tree, more gently than Tay would have expected, given the circumstances. He said something to her, but Tayla moved away, not wanting to intrude. Besides, she was dying to know what the thing with Wraith was all about.

“It’s okay, bro,” Eidolon was saying. “It’s okay. You didn’t hurt her.”

Didn’t hurt her? Something was seriously off here. Wraith had been perfectly willing to kill Tayla, yet he hadn’t wanted to hurt Lori?

Wraith shivered, rocking back and forth, his expression a combination of shell-shock and horror.

A chuffing sound brought her around, gold-plated dagger in hand. Kynan came to his feet, stang at the ready. Just like old times, they moved in sync toward the noise, and when she saw the demon trotting down the footpath, she sighed with relief. Kynan assumed an attack position.

“No!” She grabbed his arm. “Let it go.”

“What?” Kynan stared at her as if she’d gone mad. “Jesus, there’s nothing left of your humanity, is there?”

“Actually, I think I’m more human than ever,” she said, because ironically, mating with a demon, becoming a demon… those things had allowed her to finally feel something other than blind hatred. “That demon won’t hurt anyone. It’s not violent. It’s even a vegetarian. They’re like, happy Halloween demons or some crap.”

“Even if you’re right, it’s evil—”

God, she’d sounded like that to Eidolon, hadn’t she? “We need to talk. There are a lot of things you should know.”

Though Kynan’s fingers tightened around his weapon, he didn’t make a move. The demon slipped away. They turned back to Lori… who was gone.

“Dammit!” Agony screamed from every one of Kynan’s pores, and Tayla fought the urge to console him. Words meant nothing right now, not when his wife had betrayed him in so many ways. Not when the words came from a demon.

Kynan took off at a dead run, heading into the zoo once more. She let him go, and silently wished him luck.

Eidolon was still confused as hell about what had gone on with Wraith and the human female. His gut told him that Wraith wasn’t involved in the black market operation, but shit, the human had been sure of it.

“Come on, bro,” Eidolon said, as he helped Wraith to his feet. “I’m taking you home.”

Wraith swayed on wobbly legs. “No,” he croaked. “I need—”

“Don’t,” Eidolon said fiercely, grasping Wraith’s elbow and swinging him around so they were nose to nose. “Don’t you fucking do it. You come home with me, got it? We need to talk about what happened, and if you’re stoned out of your skull, we won’t get very far. I want to know how involved you are with the Ghouls.”

Wraith hissed. “I’m not.”

“Why should I believe you?

“Because I said so.”

Eidolon fisted Wraith’s T-shirt and yanked him nose to nose. “And you’d never lie, would you?” Eidolon had lost count of the number of times Wraith had lied about going over his monthly limit of human kills, and Eidolon had the scars to prove it. Still, doing something as heinous as what the Ghouls had done wasn’t in Wraith’s makeup, not after how he’d suffered. Though Wraith had no problem with killing, he did it quickly and efficiently.

A growl rumbled from deep in Wraith’s chest. Tayla eased closer, probably intending to pummel Wraith if he so much as twitched.

“What are you going to do, bro? Spank me for fibbing? I don’t think so. The big-brother card ain’t playing today.” He jerked out of Eidolon’s grip. “Happy fucking honeymoon.” He stalked away.

“Lay off the junkies, Wraith,” Eidolon warned, and Wraith flipped him the bird before disappearing into the darkness.

Eidolon looked skyward and counted to ten, ignoring everything around him until Tayla’s hand on his arm brought him back down to earth.

“What was all that about?”

He pulled her into his arms, wrapping her in a firm embrace. He squeezed his eyes closed and let himself feel the opposing sensations of her hard body and her soft touch as he stroked her hair.

“Wraith’s messed up, in case you hadn’t noticed,” he said. “He hates himself, and he does whatever it takes to forget. Remember how he was at the hospital?”

“Hard to forget.” She ran her hands up his back, and he felt the tension inside him ease a little. “What was going on with him and Lori? Why didn’t he want to touch her? And why did he freak after he bit her?”

“Wraith never feeds from human females.”

“Why not?”

Eidolon pressed his lips to her forehead and wished they could stay like this forever, could enjoy their new bond without having to deal with whether or not Wraith had betrayed his entire race. “Because he can’t control his urges. Feeding on females leads to sex, and he’d rather die than have sex with a human.”

“So… why did Lori act like they’ve slept together?”

“His mind power. If he wanted her to believe it, she would.” Someone wanted her to believe it, anyway.

“Like he did to me in your living room,” she murmured, and yeah, he still wanted to kick his brother’s ass over that. “Do you think he’s involved with the organ thing?”

“I don’t think so. But the alternative is nearly as bad.” Someone with a grudge against Wraith could cause an underworld of trouble.

The sound of a throat clearing brought them apart, but Eidolon kept her hand in his as Shade and Gem stalked toward them.

Shade frowned, looking extremely put out. “Man, I missed all the good stuff, didn’t I?” His gaze settled on Eidolon’s bond glyph on his neck and then slid to Tayla’s arm, deeply etched with Eidolon’s dermoire. “I’ll be damned. Cool.”

“Congrats, you guys.” Gem’s grin lit her up, made Tayla draw a sharp breath.

“You look so much like Mom,” Tayla said, smiling at her sister. “Are your parents safe? Where have you guys been?”

“They’re fine. I sent them home with Luc and then found Shade out looking for you two.” Gem glanced around. “Where’s Wraith? Kynan?”

Tayla and Eidolon exchanged glances during the long, tense silence that fell between the four of them. The grin slid off Gem’s face, and Shade went taut.

Eidolon scrubbed a hand over his face, relishing the burn of his palm over his tired flesh. “We have a problem. An Aegi claims Wraith is involved with the Ghouls.”

“He’s not,” Shade said fiercely.

“I know.” And Eidolon meant it. “But someone is trying pretty damned hard to make it look like he is. Looks like they’re tricking local Guardians into thinking Aegis leaders are in on it, too.”

“Hell’s fucking bells.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking.” Well, he was thinking a lot more than that, mainly because Tayla was standing next to him, her hand squeezing his, and all he wanted was to be alone with her. They could deal with Wraith later.

Right now, his entire world was Tayla, and he wanted to make sure she knew it.

Gem shot through the zoo at a dead run. Tayla, Eidolon, and Shade were making one last sweep of the park to make sure all loose demons had been ushered away and the dangerous ones destroyed, as well as to capture any remaining Guardians.

Gem couldn’t care less about dangerous demons and rogue Guardians.

When Tay told her what happened with Lori and Kynan, Gem hadn’t waited around. All she could think about was finding Ky, and as she moved swiftly through the zoo in the direction he’d gone, she prayed he was okay. That his bitch of a wife hadn’t injured him. That Jagger hadn’t done worse.

When she reached the old tiger habitat, she came to an abrupt halt at the sight of the Aegis leader standing there, shoulders sagging, head bowed. His pain rolled off him in seismic waves, vibrating through her at regular intervals, nine-point-oh-my-God on the anguish scale.

“Kynan?”

He didn’t appear to have heard her, but she knew he had, and she approached carefully.

“She’s gone,” he said, when she eased up next to him. “I can’t find her. Even if I could…”

She didn’t think. She simply wrapped her arms around him. The contact made something break inside him, and his legs gave out, dropping them both to their knees. And then he was sobbing and she was holding him, and even though she knew he hated her for what she was, she didn’t care.

For now, the man she loved was in her arms, and somehow, she couldn’t feel guilty for being glad.