CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Ash laughed deep in his throat as Artemis clutched him to her in the throes of her latest orgasm. Sighing in complete contentedness, she held him close as the last tremor shook her body.
"Ah," she breathed in his ear as she draped one arm around his neck while her long, shapely legs slid from around his waist to the floor so that she could support her own weight.
Ash wiped the sweat from his face with his hand. Every muscle in his body was twitching from the marathon she'd put him through over the last six hours. His long blond hair was damp while his entire body was covered in a fine sheen of sweat. He gladly welcomed the cool breeze that whispered in from the veranda.
Leaning back against the wall, Artemis laughed seductively. "Surely you're not giving up so quickly, Acheron. Only two more to go now. I wonder what position we should try next?"
He pulled away and gave her a crooked smile as he summoned a towel and used it to wipe at his chest. "Actually, that was your sixth and now you owe me a feeding before I leave." Completely uninhibited by his nudity, he draped the towel over his shoulders and held it in place with both hands.
Her face fell immediately. "What?" She looked past his shoulder to her hourglass on the shelf above her bed. It was still half-full of sand. "You're wrong, Acheron. That was only four since I started timing this."
Leaning on one arm against the wall where she stood, he savored the sensation of having bested her again. One day she'd learn not to play these games with him. But what the hell? At least it kept him on his toes. "From when you started logging your time, yes. But not from when I started logging mine."
He snapped his fingers and five hourglasses appeared beside hers. Each one had started right before her orgasms began. One hourglass to mark the hour from when one started until he had given her six within the allotted time.
All had expired except for the last two, but it was the fourth hourglass that was important. Held between the hands of two black gargoyles as the last few sands were quickly making their way from the top to the bottom, it was his key to freedom. He held his hand out and it shot from the shelf to his waiting grip so that he could show it to her.
"This one started earlier, right before you had your last two orgasms and vanished out of the room to delay our bargain. You came back after your hourglass had expired to begin again, but mine was still going... marking the time from when the last two left off to these four. Now I've fulfilled our pact, Artie. You've had your six orgasms in one hour. "
She shrieked in outrage. "No! That wasn't what we agreed. You-"
"Yes, it was," he said calmly, cutting her off before he returned the hourglass to its shelf. "That was the exact wording of our contract. You set up the terms and I abided by them. Now you have to free me for ten hours."
She balled her hands into fists as her face turned as red as her mussed hair. He knew she was having to mind her tongue to keep from calling him a liar. But then she knew what he did-he couldn't lie. Once his word was given, it was unbreakable.
"I hate you!"
He snorted. "Don't keep saying that, Artie. It's cruel to get my hopes up."
In her anger, she threw her hair over her shoulder as she continued to fume at him. His gaze narrowed on her exposed neck, which caused his stomach to rumble.
She paused instantly. Her green eyes darkened as her heartbeat picked up.
Unable to stand the temptation, Ash jerked her to him with one arm, dipped his head down, and pressed his lips to the throbbing vein that enticed him like a Siren's lure. The sweet fragrance of her blood made his own heart pick up speed as he opened his lips to taste her. He felt his incisors growing until he knew they were long enough to give him what he needed.
Growling deep in his throat, he sank his fangs into her neck and tasted the life that flowed inside her. Feeding was the only time he really wanted to be in her presence. The only time she didn't infuriate him beyond his best tolerance.
Here, for a moment, he found her soothing. Her blood calmed him as it nourished his hunger. Without breaking from her, he separated her thighs again and drove himself back into her body.
Lifting her legs from the floor, she cried out in happiness as her hands roamed his back while he continued to take what he needed.
He would be free of her soon...
Susan looked up from the floor as Ravyn entered the room with an air of distraction hovering around him. There was something strange about his demeanor. It wasn't like him to be so preoccupied. Normally when he was in a room, he was in the room.
"Are you all right?"
His face grim, he rubbed at the back of his neck. "I don't know. Nick's words keep chasing themselves around in my head. Kind of like ferrets or something else vile and evil. Not that ferrets are particularly vile, they're actually kind of tasty when I'm in leopard form."
Susan screwed her face up. "That's disgusting."
He winked at her. "I know and I'm only kidding. I don't like anything raw in either form... except for female flesh."
"Ew! That's worse, you cannibalistic necromaniac."
"You mean necrophiliac?"
"No. Necromaniac as in 'lunatic with the dead.' "
He appeared to consider that. "Actually, wouldn't it be un-necromaniac, as in 'the undead'?"
Susan held her hands up in surrender. She knew when she'd been bested verbally. "Switching topics back to Nick. What's bothering you exactly?"
"After you left, he kept saying that he thought one of our own, a Dark-Hunter, would betray the rest of us."
That bothered her, too. It was really a scary thought, but she had a hard time believing the men and women she'd met upstairs would turn on one another. There seemed to be an unspoken respect and brotherhood that existed between them.
"Boy, as Erika said, he's just a ray of sunshine, isn't he?"
Ravyn didn't seem to find the humor in her sarcasm. "Yeah, but I think he's right. Can you imagine how much damage a Daimon could do if they possessed a Dark-Hunter?"
More than she really wanted to think about. The Daimons had done enough damage in Daimon form. Imagine one masquerading as a good guy... that could get ugly really fast. "How easy could that be to do? I mean you guys kick serious Daimon ass, right?"
"I don't know-they've taken out two of us already and came too damned close to killing me. It's enough to make me wonder how much of Nick's crap is true and what isn't." He cocked his head as if realizing that his words were really getting to her.
She didn't like the thought of being Daimon bait. But then neither did he.
"Don't worry about it, Susan. I'm just thinking out loud." He moved forward to hand her the manila folder in his hands.
"What's this?"
"A present from Leo."
Susan set it aside as she watched Ravyn withdraw back toward the wall. Something really wasn't right about him. It was like he sensed something that she couldn't, and it reminded her of a pet that was staring at the wall. And just like that pet stare, it unnerved her. "Hey?"
He looked over at her.
"I wanted to ask you about something Erika said earlier where you're concerned."
He scowled at her. "I don't wear purple panties to bed and I don't chase cat toys when they're thrown down in front of me."
Susan was stunned by his unexpected response. Uh-huh. It was obvious the man had some hidden issues.
"What was that action? What are you talking about?" she asked with a laugh.
He looked baffled by her question. "Isn't that what she said about me? It normally is... and it's most definitely not true."
Susan couldn't speak as she fought down her laughter. Most likely, he wouldn't think it funny to be laughed at, but it was hard to bury. Her mouth merely opened and closed like a guppy as she sought a suitable answer.
Finally she got enough control to speak again. "Well, I can certainly vouch for the lack of panties myself. I've been down there enough to know. As for the other... that could be interesting. Maybe we should try an experiment?"