Wicked Road to Hel (League of Guardians 1)

He straightened and pulled her close, his chin resting upon the top of her head as he took a few moments to savor the feel of her in his arms. He groaned as a vision of her atop him rolled before his eyes, her small breasts full and round, jiggling slightly as she rode him hard.

He looked into her eyes. The deep blue depths held such secrets, such desire and promise. He cupped her chin, held her jaw steady.

Such love.

She inhaled. Her heart beat rapidly against his and he bent low. His lips scraped the softness of hers and with a groan he opened wide, taking her mouth with an aggression that signaled how close to the edge he was riding. She answered in kind and he knew they both were there. Near the precipice.

He hoped like hell they didn’t fall in.

She pulled away and he felt the sharp prick of her teeth upon his neck, and his mouth watered with anticipation as she broke skin. It was over quickly and she offered her neck to him.

“Drink, Declan,” she said hoarsely. “You need it.”

He didn’t hesitate, his fangs were ready, and when he was done, when he licked the last of her precious blood from his lips, he cradled her head once more and kissed her mouth. It was a gentle pass, filled with much emotion.

“I love you, Ana DeLacrux. Remember that.”

Ana pulled away from him, her brow furrowed. “That sounded like good-bye, not a declaration of love. Remember that. What’s that supposed to mean? The last time you said that corny line you knocked me out with a goddamn sleeping charm.” She was angry now. He could see it.

His gut told him the truth. Things might not end well but it wasn’t for the reasons she was thinking. Declan was confident he’d get the children out. He would do whatever it took to get them and Ana back to the platform in time.

“I’m not saying good-bye Ana, I just . . .” his voice trailed off as he looked into the distance. The house was barely visible through the trees, but he didn’t need to see it to remember. To know that the evil she’d tainted him with lived inside his soul, no matter that he’d hidden it. He could feel the sickness of it rushing through his veins.

He’d been weak and would pay the price forever.

But would Ana be willing to stay with him? When she found out the truth?

“What are you afraid of, Declan?”

She whirled around. The wind lifted long tendrils of hair that had escaped the tether at her nape, and they snaked into the wind. Her skin was rosy, flush from a feed, and her eyes were jeweled blue.

No good could come from this conversation. He would not confess his sins to her. He wasn’t ready.

“We need to go,” he said roughly as he tapped his timepiece. “Not sit here, hold hands, and sing ‘Kumbaya.’ Time’s running out.”

She was before him in less than a second, her body a blur, her heat upon him as her eyes flashed. She was more than pissed. Declan would hazard a guess the vampire was livid.

“Whatever the hell baggage you’re carrying must go.” She swallowed and his gaze rested upon the delicate lines of her throat. He saw the twin marks that were there, near the crook. His marks.

Her hands slipped up and she caressed the stubble that now shadowed his cheeks. “I d

on’t care about any of it.” She shook her head. “I don’t, Declan. Every moment of our lives has shaped us into what we are. Every decision, every act . . . all of it.”

He tried to jerk his head away but she held firm. “Listen to me, sorcerer. I love you. All of you. What you were and what you are now.” She rose on her toes and kissed him gently, before turning to whisper into his ear. “So don’t you dare say good-bye to me.”

Declan pulled away. “I think you’d change your mind if you knew the juicy details of my stay here in Club Lilith.”

“No.”

There was no time to argue the point. He’d let fate come into play, there was no other choice.

“Let’s go.” They crept through the forest, the off-key lilt of the harp calling them like the Pied Piper.

Chapter 28

Shouts of joy, mingled with screams of pain, echoed into the sky as they approached the main house. Declan winced as a particularly loud moan of anguish went on and on.

“What are they doing?” Ana’s brow was furled; concern lined her features.