Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 109033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Fury heated Luka’s blood, making him clench his teeth so hard his jaw ached. Equally enraged, his entities kept pushing against his skin; he felt it ripple as they slithered beneath it. Not even the terror plastered over Iain’s face mollified them.
Flexing his fingers, Luka stalked toward him. “You’ve developed a masochistic streak, have you? Is that it?”
Backing up so fast he staggered, Iain lifted a staying hand. “No. No, I just had to see her.”
“And you did.” Towering over the psi-demon, Luka cocked his head. “Was it worth what you know will happen to you next?”
Fear a dancing flame in his eyes, Iain hunched his shoulders. “I just wanted to—”
“I didn’t ask what you wanted,” Luka bit off. “Because what you want from Naomi means not one thing when it happens to be something that she doesn’t want.” Not even Abraxas, who basked in female attention and felt entitled to it, would push itself on a woman who wasn’t interested.
“But that’s the thing, she wouldn’t ask me to stay away if she knew I truly did love her. I’m trying to make her see that she’s mistaken. If she’d only listen—”
“The person who’s not listening is you. You’re choosing to cling to your delusions rather than face reality. The fact is that Naomi has not one wish to have you in her life—no matter what you feel for, about, or toward her.”
“Luka—”
“We had a conversation at my home in which I made it perfectly clear that you were to stay away from her. Naomi has also made that clear. Jolene, too, has made it clear. Belial did as well, and it warned you what would happen if you disobeyed us on this.”
“I didn’t ignore your orders. I kept my distance from Naomi like you asked. But my feelings for her never dimmed.”
Impatience fairly rattled Luka’s bones. “You only kept your distance for seven days. Of course they haven’t dimmed. And you’re not stupid enough to think they should have. You just decided to ignore the facts because it suited you to do so.”
Iain looked away, his eyes seeking out Naomi. “I—”
“No,” Luka snapped, drawing the psi-demon’s attention back to him. “Don’t talk to her. Don’t even fucking look at her.”
Iain opened his mouth to argue . . . and Belial had officially had enough. The entity rose to the surface abruptly, taking control, relishing how Iain’s face turned even whiter.
“Daniil is going to take you now,” it told him. “I will join you shortly. We are going to have some fun, you and I. Well . . . it will not be fun for you. But I will certainly enjoy every moment.”
Regaining supremacy over the entity, Luka spared Daniil a look. “You know where to put him.”
The tall blond demon crossed to a spluttering Iain, snatched his arm, and teleported him away.
Luka turned to Naomi, who stood very still, her expression unreadable. “Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yes,” she replied simply.
Luka squinted, unsure he believed that. Dagon, to its supreme annoyance, couldn’t tell if she’d lied or not. Its irritation would no doubt have tickled both Abraxas and Belial if it weren’t for their black mood.
Luka looked at his guards. “Give us a minute.”
The twins obligingly left the room.
He switched his attention back to Naomi, walking toward her. “Did the fucker touch you?”
“No, he just desperately tried convincing me that his feelings were genuine. He was beyond the point of being reasoned with.” She grimaced. “It always creeps me out when someone fixates on me so intensely. It’s like they lose who they are little by little,” she added, guilt threaded through each word.
Luka frowned, inching closer to her. Her scent swirled around him; beckoned him, enticed him, urged him to reach out and touch her. An urge he didn’t fight. “Don’t feel guilty, Naomi,” he said, palming her nape. “He isn’t in that state because of you.”
“My song—”
“Snared him, yes, but it hasn’t taken his choices from him. As you yourself once pointed out to me, he’s still responsible for his words and actions. If he’d done as you asked and left you alone, he would have recovered months ago. But he didn’t do that. He hasn’t respected your wishes at any point. He’s all about himself. That isn’t on you.” He squeezed the back of her neck. “It’s a reflection of his basic personality.”
She licked her lips. A simple sight, and yet brutal lust bit at him. A lust that shot straight to his dick and fed the sexual tension that was always present when they were close. He should be used to it after a week in her bed. Should have developed some sort of immunity to her song. No such luck. It sang to his system even now.
The sex between them wasn’t merely good, it was fucking phenomenal. Memories of it—of the softness of her skin, of her nails digging into his back, of how she arched into his every thrust—played through his mind constantly.