Touch of the Demon Read online

  Had she sinned? Rafe doubted it. Her aura was clear, not tainted with the blood of countless vanquished enemies.

  “I know enough.” Her fingernails scraped over his abdomen, igniting a blaze across his hard flesh, and halted at the belt of his pants. “And I plan on knowing more.”

  Celeste heard the words leave her lips, felt the sharp intake of the stranger’s breath, and scarcely believed she was seconds from seducing her sworn enemy. Yet fire raged in her blood, pounded against her temples and vibrated along every nerve. And the fire was no longer fuelled by hate, but by primeval lust.

  She tugged sharply on his hair, despising herself for her weakness, yet thrilling to the way his own fingers correspondingly tightened around her aching breast. His blood, smeared against his naked chest, aroused her and she leaned in, heedless of the way her hair tangled between his fingers.

  Her tongue flicked across his nipple, and the salty taste of hard male and liquid iron inflamed her. She took his nipple between her teeth and heard his shocked groan as he pressed her head more securely against his chest. Ah, great Goddess, she would make him more than groan. She would make him regret accepting this mission, for setting foot on Earth, and thinking he could erase her destiny.

  But first, she would take her pleasure from him, because he was the finest specimen she’d encountered in eons.

  And after she’d allowed him to come inside her welcoming body, she would destroy him.

  Rafe dragged his hand from her succulent breast and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, anchoring her more securely to his body. Her teeth nipped, and his pleasure hovered perilously on the edge of agony, yet the erotic flick of her tongue between each savage bite outweighed the pain and sent him closer to the precipice.

  Still holding her head and grasping her shoulders, he rammed the proof of his desire against her, forcing her to acknowledge what she was doing to him. What he was doing to himself. He felt her lips curve into a smile, before her teeth sank into his flesh and he let out another anguished groan.

  Through the fogged layers of lust, he dimly recalled this woman was his target. The one whose soul he was required to steal—whose spirit he was supposed to extinguish—leaving her little more than a living zombie, incapable of copulation never mind reproduction. Somehow, the urgency to fulfill his obligations had diminished, just as the urgency to possess this bewitching creature had escalated.

  And in the end, it didn’t matter. By holding her here, he was already altering her destiny. The longer he held her captive, the less chance she had to fulfill that destiny.

  For a split second of infinity the incredible thought whispered through his mind that far from him being the one in control, it was her. This silver haired female with the face of an angel and the heat of a succubus. That she knew exactly what she was doing by lingering in this alley.

  Madness. She knew nothing. Only how to drive a man insane with her teeth and her lips and full, sensual body. And that was enough, because unwittingly she had managed to save her soul by offering him mortal pleasure.

  He growled deep in his throat, gripped her hair, and tore her head from his chest. Her lips bore traces of his own blood and his mouth crashed down on hers, forcing entry, tongue colliding with hers, tasting his blood, tasting her wild, fresh scent, as heat scorched his flesh everywhere she touched.

  The flimsy civilized veneer vaporized and he ripped her bodice to her waist, exposing her. His hands dropped to her waist, pinning her against the wall, as his hungry gaze roamed over her full, rounded breasts as they rose and fell with each erratic breath.

  He flicked his tongue over one erect nipple, and she gasped as she dug her nails further into his scalp.

  “You like that?” He shot her a glance. She was staring down at him, eyes glazed, kiss-swollen lips parted.

  “Don’t talk to me.” The words were barely audible and she accompanied her command by forcing his head back to her breast. “Use your mouth in other ways.”

  He took her nipple between his teeth, savoring the power he wielded over her vulnerable flesh, and sucked her into his hot mouth.

  “Harder,” she gasped, one hand clasping his head, the other feverishly snaking beneath his leather coat.

  Fire burned behind his eyes, scorched through his brain and incinerated his reason. This wasn’t enough. He wanted her now, needed her now. Rising to his full height, he dragged her silken skirts up to her waist as he once again claimed her lips.

  Celeste sucked his tongue deep into her mouth and rubbed her aching breasts against his chest, but the friction didn’t ease the insanity raging through her blood. Frustrated, she dragged her hand from his shoulders and cupped his massive erection with gut wrenching anticipation.

  He growled deep in his throat as his fingers slid between her thighs. Slick heat bloomed as he caressed her outer folds, and the jerk of his cock against her hand showed his approval for her lack of undergarments.

  She squeezed his length, blindly searching for the fastenings that held him captive. It didn’t matter that they were in a seedy back alley. She didn’t care that she didn’t know his name. It hardly even registered that the longer she held him in her arms the less chance he had of succeeding in his murderous mission.

  All she knew was how much she needed him inside her. Now.

  At last she freed him from his constraints and the heat of his throbbing erection burned the palm of her hand. She pulled her lips from his.

  “Fuck me,” she gasped, as her fingers tightened around his engorged head, her thumb skimming across his wet slit.

  “With pleasure.” His husky response hitched her desperation even further. In the deepest recesses of her mind she knew that never before had she wanted a man with such unbridled madness. Not even her last lover, the one to whom she had given her most precious gift of all.

  It made no sense, but she was beyond caring. As he rammed her against the wall and thrust deep into her wet channel, her thought processes splintered. All she could feel, all she could see, all she could think of was this man as he filled her with his unyielding heat.

  Rafe buried his hands in her glorious silver hair, forcing her to look at him as she wound her legs around his hips and jerked him even closer. Her tight sheath welcomed his invasion, hot and slick, sucking him ever further into her mysterious depths.

  He withdrew all but the tip of his shaft, then rammed into her again, up to the hilt, up to the neck of her womb, taking her as if he had never fucked another woman before in his life. Heart pounding, he glared into her eyes and saw only his own lust reflected back.

  “Again,” she whispered, and one arm tightened around his waist as her other slid down his body and gripped his butt through the leather of his pants. “Hard and fast, barbarian.”

  He pulled out of her and teased the lips of her wet slit with his engorged head.

  “Can’t you find something better to do with that mouth of yours than talk?” He meant to mock her. But the words were ragged, mimicking his breath. Every nerve in his body screamed for release, and yet he held back. He didn’t even know why.

  For a fleeting instant, her teeth flashed in the gloom and, with a stab of shock, he realized it was the first time he’d seen her smile.

  “A thousand things.” Her husky voice promised untold delights.

  “I look forward to them.” And he had every intention of taking what she so rashly offered. Even if it meant taking this woman with him when he left this dirty little planet.

  Celeste tried to make him enter her again, but with her legs around him her balance was precarious and she could only wriggle in frustration. “You’ll have nothing but unfulfilled fantasies if you keep me waiting any longer.”

  He laughed out loud. Shocked to her core by his unexpected amusement, Celeste stared at him. “You think I jest?”

  One hand left her waist and trailed seductively across her bottom, under her thigh, and tantalizingly close to her aching pussy.

  “I think,” he said, a
nd his deep voice skittered along her sensitized nerves, “you don’t have a say in the matter anymore, human.”

  He was wrong on both counts. She wasn’t a human, and she most certainly did have a say. She gave him her most innocent smile, the smile that had ensnared countless men in the past, and her hand slid from his butt and snaked under her thigh to cup his heavy balls.

  His mocking smile morphed into a grimace of undisguised agony as she tugged at him mercilessly, unheeding of the way he was trapped by the opening of his leathers.

  “What do you say now, creature?” And she tightened her grip upon him, just to remind him which one of them held the power.

  “Only this.” The words were a low rumble as he rammed himself into her wet entrance, forcing her to release his hard testicles and grasp his granite biceps.

  “And this.” He thrust again, crashing her into the wall, rough stone ripping the fabric of her cloak and grazing her back.

  His shaft rubbed against her clitoris, building the pressure spiraling through her blood. Sweet Goddess, did he affect her so acutely because it had been so long since she’d allowed a man near her? Or was there some other dark reason why her pulses hammered, her womb clenched, and her mind shivered on the edge of madness?

  Did it even matter?

  He filled her like no other, stretching her tender flesh, straining against the neck of her womb. And then he withdrew, leaving her empty and aching, but before she could gasp her dismay he thrust into her again, teasing her swollen clit. Celeste screamed as the primordial pleasure ripped through every atom of her body, every hidden corner of her soul.

  Dimly, beyond the pounding of her heart, she heard his unearthly roar as he came inside her, his hot seed pumping deep within. Instinctively, she clutched him closer as his body convulsed against her, her legs tightening around him as if she never intended to let him go.

  His head dropped to her shoulder, and she released her punishing grip of his biceps to tenderly stroke his dark hair. Time passed and as her breaths grew less erratic so did his. And yet still she held him, still she caressed his silken hair.

  And still she kept him clamped within her body by the grip of her legs around him.

  His breath was hot against her neck. Hot, alien. And yet comforting. How long had they been in this squalid alley? An hour? A day?

  A century?

  With a faint tracing of alarm, Celeste realized she didn’t know, but even more—she didn’t care. Surely the danger had long since passed and this creature could leave without completing his deadly mission?

  And if that was so, why did she still cling to him as if he were her raft in an ocean of chaos?

  At last he stirred against her. “A fine performance.” His lips brushed against her ear, sending shockwaves shivering along her skin. “I may never allow you to leave my side.”

  She slid her legs from his hips and, as their bodies separated, an unexpected spear of elemental loneliness pierced her.

  “I may not give you the choice.” Her voice shook. Had he noticed? It would be fatal if he discovered just how deeply he affected her.

  Instead of releasing her, he took her face between his large hands and gazed down at her. From the glow of the flickering lamplight she saw his brooding expression, as if he too wondered at the bond between them.

  “You’re more than I believed you could be.” It was as if he spoke to himself, voicing his confusion aloud. “You deserve more than your destiny allows.”

  Celeste’s heart pounded against her chest as his words sank into her brain. Did he know who she was? Then why had he called her a mere human?

  “I forge my own destiny.”

  He smiled, but it was a dark, bitter smile as if he thought her naïve to believe such a thing possible. “We’re all pawns, human. In one game or another.”

  And still he called her human. “Which game do you play?”

  His thumbs traced across her cheeks. A soft touch that sent tremors of renewed desire shimmering along the surface of her skin.

  “Chess.” His teeth flashed in a fleeting smile of mockery. “Isn’t that the only game ever played?”

  She trailed one finger along the sensual line of his mouth. “A pawn can fell a kingdom.”

  “Yet it’s far more pleasurable to seduce one’s opponent into surrender.”

  Celeste allowed her finger to hover against his parted lips, and his warm breath fanned her. “Have you surrendered to me?”

  He took the tip of her finger into his hot mouth and caressed it with his tongue. His eyes never left hers.

  She hitched in a ragged breath. “I can be magnanimous in victory.”

  For the second time, he laughed, a deep rich sound that seeped into her soul and filled the darkness with light. It was an impossible illusion because he was a creature of the pit, and yet before she could stop herself she smiled back at him.

  “Your arrogance,” he said, sliding his fingers through her hair as if the texture pleased him, “is truly breathtaking.”

  “Then we’re well matched.” How could she flirt with this heartless assassin? And yet she had already fucked him. Wanted to have him again. Did that make her insane? Or merely as depraved as him?

  His fingers paused against her hair. And then he drew her cloak around her, covering her exposed breasts.

  “Come.” His voice was suddenly harsh as he wound his arm around her shoulders, pinning her to his side.

  “Where?” Panic flared as he pulled her along the dark alley. Had she miscalculated? Could he still complete his mission? While she had been experiencing pleasure beyond her fantasies, had he been fully aware of the passage of time?

  He’d attached her so securely to his side, she couldn’t even reach her stiletto. But even if she could, would she use it on him? Now?

  Her brain assured her not only that she could, but that she must. Her heart shrank from the image.

  “Somewhere warm.” He sounded oddly distracted and it took her a second to absorb his meaning.

  “Warm?” So he wasn’t planning on finishing the job. He planned to finish them.

  Liquid heat bloomed between her thighs. If she could keep him with her throughout the night, the future of the one she protected was secure. Once the child was conceived, this demon had failed in his mission. There were no second chances, no possibility to reclaim that fragment in time when he had relinquished everything in the heat of passion.

  Was that the only reason she wanted to stay with him?

  She tried to block her mind against the inevitable answer, but the answer hummed in every nerve she possessed.

  Because the true reason she was staying with him was that she wanted to. For herself.

  Chapter Two

  Rafe didn’t question why he wanted to spend more time with the woman. The moment when destiny hovered on the cusp between darkness and light had passed. By fucking her, he had ensured that the predicted chaos would never come to fruition. Humans wouldn’t rise against their gods, and the gods wouldn’t issue the dark angels an ultimatum.

  The future was already irrevocably altered, so it didn’t matter if he left her here in this filthy alley and returned to his own sphere. Didn’t matter if he took her soul or not. Killed her or allowed her to live.

  And yet he chose to take her with him. The reason why was of no consequence.

  “Here.” Her breathless voice penetrated his thoughts and he watched her push open a door set in the grimy stone wall.

  She looked up at him. He had an overwhelming urge to see her face in the light, to discover the color of her eyes and find out whether her hair truly did resemble starlight, or if it was just an illusion of the night.

  He wanted to take her off planet. Wanted to take her back to his own civilized time where they could indulge every comfort. But the desire to be inside her again consumed him. And so he followed her.

  The decrepit hag hunched by the desolate fire in the grate barely turned her head as they crossed the timber floor of the s
habby dwelling. Cloaked in darkness they were merely a draught of warm air, a shimmer over the soul.

  The stairs creaked as she led the way, and he barely noticed the stench of humanity or air of decay as she took them into a tiny room.

  He kicked the door shut behind them. Pitch black surrounded them. Her elusive scent danced in the air, obliterating the underlying despair that permeated every pore of the mean dwelling.

  But he wanted light. Needed to see her. As she pressed herself against him, he used his powers to gather the primitive illumination they used in this time. A thousand candles sprung to life, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders before the fear claimed her.

  He felt her laugh, as if the phenomenon she’d just witnessed was commonplace. And then he looked at her.

  Her silver hair was no night-time illusion. In the flickering glow of the candles it appeared alive, a shimmering silver cloud of silk which curled over her shoulders and down her back.

  And her eyes. Awe stabbed through Rafe as he looked into those fathomless gold and green eyes. He had been wrong. This woman embraced more of her immortal heritage than he’d been led to believe. But how could he have not guessed, when she claimed such an irresistible hold upon him?

  Celeste’s laugh caught in her throat as she looked at the man in her arms. In the dark, he had appeared formidable. In this light, he was pure magnificence.

  Eyes so dark they appeared black mesmerized her with their all-encompassing power. His face possessed a harsh beauty that both inflamed and terrified her, forcibly reminding her he was not of her world.

  The knowledge only made her want him more than before.

  “You have the beauty of the heavens.” His voice was hushed.

  “No,” she said softly. “My beauty is of the Earth.”

  His hand caressed the side of her face. Was it her imagination, or did his fingers shake?