Rejection (The Mate Games 2)

She kissed my forehead, sending lightning zinging through my veins.

I gasped at the blinding pain racing through me and sat up in my bed, the garden around me gone, the birds no longer singing. Gulping in air, I worked to push aside the tingling burn in my limbs, kicking free of blankets that tangled around my legs like shackles.

Moira sat up, lifting her eye mask and sending its obnoxious fake lashes fluttering as she blinked sleepily at me. “Sunday? What’s wrong?” Then her eyes widened as she really saw me, and she swung her legs off the bed and rushed to my side.

I hated the tremors rocketing through me, making my teeth chatter as the dream faded from my memory. All I remembered was one statement, loud and clear in my brain. “Moira, I think I’m a demon.”

She paled, but God bless her, she didn’t back away and run screaming from the room. “Why do you think that?”

“My dream... oh, God, and Moriarty. It makes sense.”

“Glad it does to you, but I’m still in the fucking dark, babycakes.”

I gulped, my mouth tasting like ash. “The heat. It’s like a hunger with no end. And Moriarty said he thought I was a succubus the way I was luring all these men against their will. Then in my dream, she said... she told me to feed my demon.”

“Who said? Your mom?”

I nodded, feeling like the world was crashing down around me. “Do you think it’s true? Do you think I’ve been f-feeding on Noah and Kingston and oh, God, and Alek?”

She bit her lower lip and turned on the lamp at her bedside. “I really don’t know. Do you feel stronger after you’re with them?”

My stomach clenched. “Y-yes.”

Every time I was with one of them, it was like a surge of adrenaline straight through me. Afterward, I was stronger. Faster. More powerful in every discernible way. Each of them gave me something different, as if they were the keys that helped me unlock my true power.

“Shit. Maybe.”

“Am I the one summoning the demons? Oh, my God. Am I the reason those people died?”

Moira grasped my hand, squeezing it tight. “I don’t know, but there’s someone who will.”

“Lilith,” I breathed, a little frustrated with myself that I hadn’t thought of going to her sooner. Of course she would know if I was her kind. “But the portal is locked. The wards...” The wards. They’d hurt me when I crossed them. My heart sank.Shit.I was a demon. Lilith was going to confirm it. Then where did I go from here?

My roommate smirked. “I was saving these for a special occasion. Don’t tell anyone where you got it.”

She handed me a ball roughly the size of a bath bomb, but something told me it wasn’t going to fizz and bubble if I dropped it in a tub of water. “Moira, won’t they be able to track it? You’ll get in trouble.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “So what else is new? Some things are more important than rules. I think my bestie finding out she’s a secret sex demon qualifies. Now put on something less... sweaty, and go get your answers.”

After cleaning myself up, I dressed in a pair of tight jeans and a long-sleeved sweater with a low neckline. I wanted to be comfortable but still fit in at a place likeIniquity. Moira gave me her seal of approval then said, “Just toss it on the floor and think of where you need to be.”

I did as she told me, a swirling green portal opening in front of me. “Okay, here goes nothing.” Before I stepped inside, I pulled Moira into a hug. “Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You’d be a mess. Well... a bigger mess.”

Rolling my eyes, I released her and took a deep breath. Then I stepped into the portal in search of answers.

“What the bloodyhell good is a security team if random bitches in heat can just pop into my office unannounced?” Lilith’s sultry British voice was laced with annoyance as her head snapped up and she found me standing awkwardly in the corner of the room. She blinked, her expression morphing into surprise. “Oh, Sunday, it’s you.”

I was too busy staring at her desk to do more than lift my hand in some semblance of a wave. Well, the man acting as her desk. He was almost completely naked and painfully erect. He had a ball-gag in his mouth, and a horse’s tail hung between the taut globes of his ass. An ass that was bright red and marked with welts. He was big, heavily muscled, with a light dusting of hair over his legs and chest. Lilith sat behind him on what appeared to be a small throne, which made sense sinceIniquitywas basically her Queendom. A black book was open across his back, her riding crop held in one hand and a red-feathered quill in the other.

“I...” I had no idea what to say.

The man’s gaze flicked to me, then back to where he’d been focused. But Lilith didn’t miss a beat. She trained her attention on me and said, “I’m in the middle of a scene. If you don’t want to witness me punishing him for looking at you, you should leave now.”

I turned on my heels and walked out the door, just as the sound of the riding crop connecting with his ass and his sharp grunt of pleasure filled the room.

My heart was racing, and no longer from my nightmare.Jesus.I wasn’t sure what I expected just waltzing into a succubus’s office, but I feel like I should have been prepared. I hadn’t been. Not even a little.