Unchained (Nephilim Rising 1)

“I missed you, Lily.” His voice dropped low and sensual.

Oh, it curled deep inside her. Reminded her of what had passed between them in her apartment a week ago, but she needed to play this cool. “I doubt that. I’m sure you had a bevy of women to occupy your time.”

He smiled and stepped forward. “You know that’s not true.”

She stepped back, deciding to change the topic. “You know, I had that handled. You didn’t have to butt in.”

He shrugged. “They were going to take up too much of your time. Now, I have you to myself.”

For the past week she had done her best not to think about him, not to lie in her tiny bed at the Sanctuary and remember what his lips felt like against her mouth, against her flesh. She had made a promise to Luke. “Julian, we can’t.”

He came to her side. “We can’t do what?” He reached down, catching her hair around his finger.

His heat swamped her, and when he drew the strand of hair out in front of her, she stared at his fingers. That wasn’t a good idea. She snatched her hair back. “Why aren’t you off doing…Fallen…stuff?”

“Fallen stuff?” he repeated with a chuckle. “What silly notions you have.”

She made a face and started walking toward the entrance. “I have a lot of hunting to do,” she told him. “It’s early.”

He fell into step beside her. “Then I’ll come with you.”

Lily stopped. “You can’t come with me.”

“Why not?”

“You can’t help me hunt, Julian. I appreciate it, but no. You can’t.”

He frowned. It didn’t take away from his beauty at all. “Then we are at a standstill.”

Crossing her arms, she stared up at him. “How so?” she demanded.

“I wish to spend time with you,” he explained quite seriously. “If you cannot hunt with me, then I fear I cannot allow you to hunt.”

“Julian…”

“I like your skirt, by the way. What is it the humans say? Easy access or something?” he said with a flirtatious wink. “Anyway, I have nothing to do other than torment you.”

Flushing, she glanced down at the black pleats. She liked it, too. “Um thanks. I think.” She cleared her throat. “Seriously, Julian, I’ve got work to do.”

He smiled rather angelically, which was totally wrong. “I said I would work with you. I find your fighting incredibly sexy. Alluring really—the way you move?” He trailed off. The angelic look faded into something akin to sinful. “I’m fixated. Show me your nightlife, baby.”

Fighting a stupid grin, she knew she shouldn’t be enjoying any of this. There was stuff to do—things to kill. Things like him. Yet, here she was, bantering back and forth with him. And she was having fun. Stupid Lily…and stupid hormones…

She was so doomed.

Lily sighed. She had to hunt, but no matter where she was in the city she would hear a minion if one got frisky, and there were other Nephilim out there. So what if she spent some time in the park with Julian? She bit down on her lip. I’m selfish, totally selfish.

“All right,” she agreed. “But if I hear a minion, I have to go, and you can’t follow me. No questions asked. That is the only deal I am making.”

“No deal.”

Her eyes narrowed upon him. “What?”

“Give me your hand. We shall do this like normal people.”

She looked at him curiously. “Do what exactly?”

“A date,” he said. “A walk in the park is considered a date by human standards. It’s a rather lame date, but it’s not like I can take you out to dinner without having the entire Sanctuary descending on us.”

“A date?” she repeated dumbly.

“Yes.”

“Haven’t we kind of skipped right past that?” she asked.

Julian bent down, brushing his lips over hers. “We can skip right to that again, but I am trying to be a gentleman.”

What was funnier? The idea of going on a date with him or him trying to be a gentleman, she couldn’t tell. “We don’t date. Our two kinds? No way, buddy.” She gave him her hand anyway. “Here, if this will make you happy.”

Julian smiled widely. He grasped her hand in his warm one. “We don’t date? There goes my movie idea.”

“Ha-ha.” Lily let him steer her back toward the mouth of the park. She observed her hand wrapped in his. “This is by far the weirdest thing I have ever done.”

“Really?” he inquired. “I find that hard to believe.”

She thought for a moment. “Yeah, it is. Man, if any of them catch me right now I am so dead.”

Julian led her off the beaten trail, into the woods. “Do you care so much about what they think?”

“No,” she immediately answered. “Yes. I mean, what this is? I don’t even know what this is, but it’s not allowed. They’d think the…worst.”

His eyes sparkled in amusement. “And what would that be?”

Her lips pursed. “That we are…you know, doing it.” Julian tipped his head back and laughed deeply. She scowled at him. “It’s not funny.”

“But we aren’t doing it.” He stopped under a large oak tree and pulled her against him.

The air caught in her lungs, and where her traitorous body brushed his, she came alive. “What are we doing?” she whispered.

“I really don’t know.”

His response seemed truthful, and she didn’t pull away when he bent his lips to hers. Nor did she stop him when the whisper of a kiss turned into something more. He parted her lips, deepening the kiss.

Julian’s hands slipped under the hem of her skirt, teasing and daring. He lifted his mouth just an inch. “Do you know how badly I’ve missed you this week?”

Her fingers curled against his chest as she stared up at him.

A small lifting of his lips softened his harsh beauty. “That Nephilim has been everywhere you’ve been. I don’t like it.”

She slid her hand along the collar of his shirt. “Luke worries about me.”

He brushed his cheek against hers. “It’s the only reason I tolerate his presence.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but he took advantage of the moment, delving his tongue deep into her mouth. When he broke the kiss and stepped back to capture just her hand again, Lily frowned.

He flashed a knowing grin and started walking. “Ask me anything.”

“Um,” she said, running a shaky hand through her hair. “Okay…what do you do in your spare time?”

“Besides follow you?”

Well, he got points for honesty. “Yeah, besides follow me.”

“Well, I don’t sleep all day in my lair if that is what you think.” He led her around a small creek fed by the Potomac. “I actually own a couple of businesses in Maryland and a few in the city—clubs and bars.”

That was not what she expected. The shock must have been transparent, because Julian laughed. “I’m easily bored, especially after centuries. It’s not uncommon for us to acquire certain things. You’d be surprised.”

Lily really needed to share that with the circle. “What kind of clubs?”

“The kind you’d get into,” he said with a grin. “The clubs are all the rage among the rich Georgetown students and yuppies looking for a good time.”

“So is this an illegal thing or a way to…reach more humans?” Meaning corrupt more humans through exploiting their vices. It was something the Fallen were very good at.

Julian glanced down at her questioning face. “At times, yes. For the most part, it’s just a trendy club people go to when they want to enjoy themselves. I don’t prey on everyone who walks through the doors of my establishments. Though some of my clubs are private. Places for people who’ll pay good money to relax and not be seen.”

Politicians and celebrities? It appeared Julian was ever the opportunist.

“You?” he prodded after a moment.

“I don’t really do anything exciting,” she said drily. “No secretive businesses or intrigue.” She paused. “I did go to American University.”

“College grad?” he asked. “Hot.”

Lily laughed softly. “I didn’t graduate. The job kind of got in the way.”

He seemed to digest that tidbit of information. “Your job is everything. It’s all you have.”

When it was put that way it sounded sort of depressing. But she loved her job. Hell, it was more than a job. It was a duty to a higher calling. She was lucky to have such an important role in life.

It sounded like a pep talk even to her.

When she didn’t answer, Julian peppered her with questions and eventually drew more information out of her. There really wasn’t much for her to tell him. Other than being a Nephilim, she lived a boring life. He didn’t seem to think so. Not by the rapt attention he was paying her.

A few minutes passed and the beauty of the park settled around them. That was when Lily came up with the most inappropriate question she could ask. “How many Nephilim have you fathered?”

“Children?” He tilted his head to the side, and a lock of hair fell across his broad cheek. “None.”

Chapter Sixteen

Lily busted out laughing. “Whatever. You tell me to ask you anything and then you lie.”

The skin between Julian’s brows puckered. “I’m not lying.”

Her smile faded. Either he had an awesome poker face or he was telling the truth. But there was no way he had not fathered a Nephilim. It was just…what they did. Like over and over again. But he stared at her with this serious and somewhat offended expression on his face.

“You can’t be serious,” hissed Lily.

“Why would I lie about that?”

They had stopped walking. Underneath an old stone bridge that was no longer in use, she withdrew her hand from his. “Not a single Nephilim?”

He sighed. “If I had known you would’ve been disappointed by that, I would’ve lied to you.”

“No.” She bit her lip. “I’m not disappointed. I’m just surprised. I mean, what Fallen doesn’t produce a Nephilim? We’re like your first ‘in your face’ to God.”

Julian actually laughed. “I guess I’m a very poor Fallen.”

“Wow,” she murmured. He was full of surprises, and this latest one was rather telling. She had thought his inexplicable fondness for her and flippant manner of destroying the creatures his kind created was strange, but this was beyond that. “Are there others like you?”

He reached down, unfolding her arms. “I imagine there are some who’ve grown tired of this path we have chosen. Who have carved out a different life, leaving what made them fall behind.”

That didn’t sit well with Lily. All the years of training and education on the Fallen started to unravel. The lines between them were always an issue of black and white. Yet Julian was proof that wasn’t always the truth. And there could be more like him? Out there? Fallen but not completely evil? And her kind was killing them?