When Darkness Reigns Read online

  Willow glanced up to find me ogling him like a hungry wolf. I couldn’t help it. He wasn’t the only one affected by the tie that bound us.

  “I knew the risk I was taking when you turned me. This is all on me.” Though he’d calmed, ravenous hunger prowled behind his eyes. Willow needed to end this war with himself.

  “It isn’t though. I’m the other half of this equation. You want me but I want you too. Let go of the guilt. You’re mine, Willow. That’s not going to change. Stop fighting your instincts and let me help you.” I took a step closer to him and stopped. He’d have to bridge the rest of the distance between us himself.

  Willow’s expression pinched. The tight lines around his mouth shifted as he warred with himself. Stiff, he held his shoulders tight, posture braced to fight or flee.

  My succubus nature wanted to drench him in a sensual thrall, drive all other thoughts from his mind. But this had to be entirely his choice.

  Willow took a step in my direction. Out of reach he stood near the end of the bed while I still stood just inside the open door. “I’m not sure I know how to do that, Alexa.”

  There was no distance I wouldn’t go for him, as he’d done for me. Still some things I could not do. I could only be here. “You want my blood? I’m right here. You want my body? I’m right here. Stop holding yourself back and take what you need from me. Consider it an order from your queen.” That last bit slipped out, driven by the succubus darkness that had grown impatient.

  However, it seemed to be what he needed to hear. Willow came at me with a wolfish growl. A snap of his fingers, and the door shut with a resounding slam. Then he pulled me against his hard, half-naked body and kissed me. He tasted of blood and felt like a well of desire about to overflow.

  Willow had exerted so much energy resisting. When he finally let go, the result was an unleashed passion that even Lust hadn’t managed to draw forth. His mouth moved on mine with a yearning desire that grew by the moment.

  As his walls crashed, I stood in the prime location to be hit by the shrapnel of his long-denied needs. No matter, I owed him at least that much.

  We had never been alone together like this. Our encounters always included an audience. He’d been so careful with me, so protective and aware of that audience. Now it was just the two of us. Maybe it was the privacy or maybe Willow’s craving had simply gotten to be too much, but his kiss revealed the powerful and commanding incubus vampire had overtaken the carefully restrained, protective guardian.

  Eager anticipation had me kissing him back with wild abandon. Perhaps I’d been approaching Willow all wrong. I’d used a soft, guiding touch on a man who’d once been a warrior. Who still was. I should have been more forceful. He needed to take his succubus queen with the mad passion he kept buried inside instead of pretending it didn’t exist.

  Willow pulled me toward the bed, his lips moving down my jaw toward my neck. With a small groan he jerked back, avoiding my pulse. It was too soon.

  He sat on the bed and pulled me down onto his lap. I straddled him, needing to feel him between my legs. A tug on my shirt was the only warning before he whisked it up and off. It drifted to the carpet, forgotten. Wrapping both arms around me, Willow tipped me back so he could bury his face in my cleavage.

  The sharp tip of a fang grazed my flesh, and I sucked in a breath. My bra soon followed my shirt to the floor. Willow sucked my nipple into his mouth, twirling his tongue until I moaned.

  I sensed the need in him. Impatient and insistent. Sliding a hand into his hair, I rubbed against him in silent encouragement.

  He took it. Turning us over, he laid me on the bed beneath him. He kissed me again, his hands deftly working to remove my pants. I touched his face, slipping my tongue into his mouth. With every touch my hunger for him grew. Because I craved my lovers as badly as they craved me.

  When our clothes lay in random heaps on the floor, Willow hovered over me. Watching my face, he sought out the growing wetness between my legs. Two fingers dipped inside me, a tease compared to what I most wanted. On my soft moan he pushed a little deeper, searching my eyes.

  “You want this?” he murmured, withdrawing his fingers to run them over my clit. A wicked spark filled his green eyes when I flinched in response.

  Could he really not believe that I wanted him? Perhaps power had led us to this place together, but it didn’t make every decision for me. Otherwise I’d have bedded Briggs long ago. Only those I cared for made it into bed with me. Only those I trusted implicitly.

  “Take me, Willow.” I swept a lock of hair off his forehead, which was etched with uncertainty. “No holding back.”

  He hovered on the brink of letting go. All he needed was a shove.

  I let him see the raw desire within me. Reaching down between us, I grasped the evidence of his arousal and stroked my hand slowly up and down the length of him. For good measure I slung a leg around his waist in invitation.

  Willow leaned down to claim my mouth in a searing kiss. As he held himself above me, still inches between us, the muscles in his arms trembled. “Alexa, you are a gift that I don’t deserve. I need you to know how much you mean to me. How much this means to me.”

  “I do. I know.” I kissed him again, wishing he’d close that final gap between us. “But you’re wrong about one thing. You deserve more than I could ever give you.”

  Before I could read the emotion in him, Willow buried his face in my neck. Kissing and licking, he adorned me with little nips that sent a surge of excitement to my nether regions. My fingers were lost in his hair. Ready for all of him, I threw my head back, giving him better access to my throat.

  Pressing his chest to mine, Willow hungrily sucked at my jugular, teasing himself with my powerful blood. When I wrapped my other leg around him, the distance between us disappeared.

  Still he didn’t enter me. Not yet.

  Willow raised his head to study me. I sensed no fear or guilt in him now. All I found in his pretty orbs was the incubus desire and the affection of a friend turned lover. I could feel him there, pressing against me. So damn close to what we both wanted. Unlike our time in Lust’s theatre, he didn’t avoid eye contact. He held my gaze with a steady intensity.

  That first deep thrust had me arching my back, moaning as he sank inside me. His slow, gentle motions quickly became hurried.

  Passion drove Willow. The intimacy of the classic missionary position brought an emotional aspect to our encounter that I imagined was part of being with him. He once shared with Jez and me that he wasn’t a sex-without-love kind of guy. Though I knew he wasn’t in love with me, he did love me. I felt it with every touch, every kiss.

  Whereas such intimacy still caused discomfort with someone like Falon, it felt totally right with Willow. It was in his nature to love so deeply. In his arms I felt safe. Not vulnerable and exposed the way I often felt with Falon.

  Because Willow showed such composure and self-restraint, I wondered if he’d ever even allowed himself to experience the power of feeding on a victim in the throes of orgasm. By the way his fangs scraped harder over my skin, edging closer to my jugular, I guessed not.

  With a steady intensity he delved inside me, faster as the need drove him. Then he slowed, rolling his hips to fill me with a sensual but deep motion. When we couldn’t possibly get any closer, he brushed the hair off my neck.

  I quivered in anticipation of his bite.

  At the expected sting of fangs I climaxed on a cry. It probably sounded like he was killing me. Quite the contrary.

  I held tight to Willow as my blood filled his mouth. My clawed fingertips grazed one of the scars on his back, and he groaned. I moved my hips to meet his frantic thrusts. The incubus in him had needed my orgasm, but I needed his too.

  With his mouth fastened to my bleeding wound, Willow came hard. The soft growl near my ear brought me immense satisfaction. I drew on the heady rush of him, immersing myself in his unique vibes.

  After the waves subsided we lay there together in the
bliss moment. Willow held me tight against him as he dragged his tongue over my injured neck. Over Falon’s mark. The snarky angel would surely love that.

  I trailed a hand down Willow’s side, taking note of the lines and planes of his body, committing them to memory. Especially the scars that marked his back. At least a thousand times since the night he’d lost those wings, I’d wanted to apologize for taking them away.

  And I had apologized. Then, with Arys’s help, I’d turned him. Making Willow the only other vaewolf in known existence. If we believed that fate led us to this moment, then maybe we could go forward without guilt. For either of us.

  Low on time we soon rolled apart. Before he left the bed, Willow reached to take my hand. He brushed a kiss over my fingers. “I hope it was just as good without Lust’s influence.”

  Did this angelic man truly need my reassurance? Were the claw marks on his back not enough?

  I almost laughed simply because it was so damn endearing. “It was better. Being with you is intense. Intimate. Honestly, it’s pretty fucking amazing.”

  A loud knock on the door preceded Jenner’s raised voice. “Alexa, you’ve got to get out here. Bring a blanket and a warm, wet towel. Hurry up, buttercup. You’ve got another delivery and he’s in rough shape.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Adrenaline propelled me off Willow’s bed like a bomb had gone off beneath me. I scrambled for my clothing and shouted back to Jenner that I’d be right there. In a panic I hurried into my clothes while darting to the bathroom for a towel as requested.

  The several seconds it took to throw myself together felt like forever. Willow had speedily dressed and stripped the blankets off the bed, grabbing a clean one from beneath it. I darted out of the room and down the hall with Willow at my side.

  When I ran into the nightclub I almost tripped over my own feet in shock at the condition of my favorite victim. Naked and bloody, Ebyn lay curled in the fetal position atop the red sofa. His entire body trembled and shook. Arys knelt next to him, examining his injuries. Everyone had gathered around him.

  Willow pressed the blanket into my hand, and I rushed to cover Ebyn with it. From head to toe he was a mess of blood, making it difficult to see every injury. So very many, too many. The torment Lilah had inflicted upon him made me sick with rage.

  Arys took the wet towel from me and gently dabbed at the blood staining Ebyn’s face. “Someone just dumped him in the parking lot. We didn’t see who. I was going to heal him, but I think you should do it. You have a lighter touch.”

  I got on my knees next to Arys, trying not to focus on the dried blood caked under Ebyn’s lost eye. Murderous fury flitted through me. I struggled to choke it down, needing to focus on healing my wolf before he died right there in front of me.

  I refused to give Lilah that satisfaction.

  Ebyn was barely conscious, his one good eye rolling back in his head. Nonsensical words trickled faintly from him.

  I shushed him with a gentle finger on his cracked and bleeding lips. “Don’t try to move or speak. Just rest.”

  He continued to mumble incoherently, like he needed to communicate something to me. Uneasy with that thought, I again touched his lips. Once he calmed. I placed my hands on his chest beneath the blanket and called on the light flame within me. My fingertips grew warm as the power responded.

  After my encounter with Willow, I was at full strength and then some. Touching Ebyn’s broken energy, I followed it through his battered body, seeking the worst of his injuries. Cuts and stabs, bruises and burns marred his skin. My conflicting dark nature already plotted the many ways to make Lilah suffer for what she’d done. I expended substantial focus to settle my mind in the healing light.

  The power swelled and flowed, and I gasped as it surged forward, driven by an essence that didn’t belong to me. It sparked with the briefest but brightest burst of a light, purer than anything I’d ever possessed.

  Angelic. All Willow.

  Then it was gone just as fast.

  Next to me Arys tensed, staring not at Ebyn but at me with a strange curiosity. On the couch the abused werewolf groaned and grabbed his head. A healing could only do so much. His most lethal injuries had been reduced from life threatening to merely excruciating, but unfortunately I couldn’t revive what had been taken. The tip of his ear and his eye were debts that Lilah would repay in abundance.

  Ebyn blinked his good eye a few times, trying to focus through what appeared to be a hell of a headache.

  “We’re going to get you cleaned up and into bed. You need to rest.” My voice broke, and I had to pause for a moment. “I’m going to make her sorry that she did this to you.”

  He grabbed my hand with bloodstained fingers and squeezed. “Alexa, she’s got Falon. She told me to tell you.”

  Stunned by his words I struggled to find my own. “What?”

  “She said to bring Shya to his house. One hour. You have to go alone.” Ebyn coughed a few times, his voice hoarse from screams while being tortured.

  Now she was breaking Falon too.

  With rising panic I turned to Arys. His eyes revealed everything. He didn’t want me to go. I stood up and glanced around at our companions. Shaz was just as readable. Neither of them wanted me to risk myself for Falon. Jenner didn’t appear to have an opinion either way, but he had a good poker face.

  I needed to hear it from all of them. “I don’t think I have a choice.” I scanned each in turn. “What do you guys think? What’s the best way to respond to a threat like this?”

  I knew how I wanted to respond. I wanted to go raging to Shya’s house for a showdown with this demon bitch who’d crossed the line too many times with me and my people. However, reacting on pure reckless emotion wouldn’t win this war. So I had to take into account the opinions of those bound to me, those whose safety relied on how all this went down.

  Arys spoke first. “Don’t go. It’s not worth the risk. I’m sorry, Alexa, but Falon is an immortal. She can’t kill him.” To his credit he managed to look apologetic, but I’d already known that’s what he would say.

  Shaz agreed, but as usual he did it in his own classy way. “She sent you on a wild goose chase once already. It’s never going to be what it seems. We can’t trust that she even has Falon.”

  Jenner merely shrugged. “It’s your call. But whatever you do, don’t let emotion make your decision. Because that demon clearly is. If both of you go down that path, it’s going to get so much uglier.” He made a solid point.

  I was running on pure emotion at this point. Which was exactly how Lilah wanted it. She wanted me to fuck up.

  “She wants to separate you from Arys,” Willow pointed out, calm and logical in the face of chaos. “That said, I think you should go.”

  I gaped, surprised by his unexpected position. His opinion remained one I greatly valued. Even with the nightclub quiet and empty, no music to shout over, I must not have heard him right. “You do?”

  Willow nodded. “I know you want to go after him. And I know Lilah won’t stop until she gets what she wants. Lilah took Falon because she can’t kill him. Which means she can torture him endlessly for the whereabouts of Shya’s stone and he can’t die to escape it. The hell she can put him through is endless.”

  The visual he painted for me pretty much cinched it. I was going. Looking to Gabriel I asked, “Can you help me out with a fake stone? I’m not bringing Shya anywhere near her.”

  “Yeah, of course. Not a problem.” Gabriel nodded with confidence, always having an arsenal of magical goods handy. “I don’t think you should go alone though.”

  Separated from Arys, Lilah might underestimate me, thinking herself protected. I suspected she didn’t yet know what we were capable of. In many ways neither did we. Arys’s power lived inside me, and I could draw on him at any time. We might be strongest together, but being apart didn’t change our nature.

  Nothing Lilah did could change that.

  “I have to. She could have people watchi
ng us. She’ll know if I don’t come alone. And as long as I have something she wants, she’s not going to kill me.” Although I wasn’t entirely convinced of that, I told myself Lilah was too smart to kill me outright.

  Or maybe I was naïve enough to believe that.

  Arys wasn’t having any of it, that muscle twitching in his jaw. “Falon himself said that we are not to be separated. Don’t you think it’s suspicious that she wants you to come by yourself? You can’t go in there. Not without me.”

  The clock was ticking. Already a good twenty minutes had passed since Ebyn had been dumped off outside. I had no time for me to convince my dark half that it was best for me to confront her, even if it meant doing so on her terms.

  “I know it’s dangerous. But if I don’t do this, she’s going to keep picking you all off one by one until her patience runs out. Maybe she can’t kill Falon, but she can kill the rest of us. This isn’t up for discussion.” My sentiment came out harsher than intended.

  That stubborn glint in Arys’s dark blue eyes promised conflict. “I’d say it damn well is up for discussion,” he snarled. He flung a hand angrily in Ebyn’s direction. “Do you see what she did to your playmate, Alexa? Imagine what she will do to you.”

  My gaze dropped to the werewolf who tentatively stretched his sore limbs. He’d just gone through hell for no reason other than his connection to me. I owed him.

  “Yeah, Arys, I do see. That’s why I have to go.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  FALON

  I can never love you. Those words I shouted in Alexa’s face the night we faced the Sins demons. That declaration ran through my head now on repeat.

  Alexa followed me everywhere. Even now, on my knees with blood dripping in my eyes, I couldn’t escape the curse of that woman. As Lilah’s goons roughed me up, I wondered if she was alright. I hated leaving her with Salem; he was too far gone, too unpredictable.