The Darkest Passion (Lords of the Underworld #5)(62)
Author: Gena Showalter

What would happen if that darkness consumed her?

Stop, she shouted inside her head. Whoever, whatever you are, please stop.

Legion rested her head on Aeron’s shoulder, gaze returning to Olivia, and stroked the contours of his back. “So strong,” she purred.

Olivia’s eyes narrowed as rage infused every atom of her being. He’s mine to stroke. Mine to praise.

Do something. You deserve Aeron, not Legion. So prove it to him. Get in front of him, drop to your knees, open his pants and suck his c**k into your mouth.

She tripped over her own feet, rage quickly draining and leaving only despair. What would happen if the darkness consumed her? she had wondered. With this newest urging, the answer had slid into place. She would no longer be able to distinguish her own desires and emotions from those of the voice. What the voice had said, she wanted to do. Desperately.

Resist. She couldn’t let that happen.

“I want to talk with you…privately,” Legion continued, and that slight pause at the end had had nothing to do with her tongue and everything to do with sensual suggestion. “Send the ugly angel away.”

“Stop that,” he barked. Then more calmly, “You have to stop.”

Finally the smugness drained from her and she turned a now-watery gaze to Aeron. “Don’t you love me anymore?”

“Of course I do, but that doesn’t mean… We can’t…Damn this!” He snaked the corner, stalked down the hall and practically kicked his door from its hinges. He set Legion on her feet and backed out of the chamber. “Take anything of mine you want, just get dressed.” He didn’t wait for her reply, but shut the door with a firm snap and whirled on Olivia. “Tell me about her deal with Lucifer.”

Drop to your knees…

“No!” One step, two, she backed away from him.

“Olivia,” Aeron said, scowling. “Stop.”

Kiss him, then…somewhere, anywhere…

Her attention fell to his lips, and she licked her own. A kiss, so innocent. So necessary. Must…resist…

“Stop that,” he barked again.

She gulped. “Stop what?” Beyond the door, she could hear Legion stomping around, tossing things to the floor and muttering about “stupid angels.”

“One, denying my command and two, trying to seduce me.”

“Why would I try to seduce you? It’s not like you’re any good at the actual bedding.” The moment the words escaped her, she plastered her hand over her mouth. Truly. How was this happening? she wondered again. That hadn’t been her taunt, but the voice’s.

Aeron bristled. “Not good? I gave you an orgasm the first time we…just the first time, damn it!”

Her eyes widened as realization struck. Another danger the voice presented: she liked the results. Aeron barely had a leash on his anger, and the thought of him out of control, determined to prove just how good he was at pleasing her, thrilled her.

Resist? Perhaps that wasn’t such a good idea.

Really? Well, if that’s the case, Aeron will fall for the voice, not you. Is that what you want? Finally. Rational thought. Thought that cracked through some of the darkness, allowing light to seep inside.

“What are you going to do about your little demon friend in there?” she asked him, returning to the only subject that mattered at the moment.

Aeron scrubbed a hand down his suddenly tired expression. He’d been doing that a lot lately. “I don’t know what to do about her.”

“To make a bargain of this magnitude, she would’ve had to promise something huge.”

“Like what?”

Olivia shrugged. “Only she knows the answer to that. Well, and Lucifer, but I guarantee he won’t tell us.”

“How do you know she bargained with Lucifer rather than Hades? And does the bargainer matter?”

“Yes, the bargainer matters, but Hades is currently locked away and incapable of making such deals, so you don’t have to worry about him.” When the Titans escaped their immortal prison and overthrew the Greeks all those months ago, Hades had been included in their number. Lucifer, though, the Titans had left alone. Someone needed to be in charge of the underworld, she supposed. Even someone as vile as the devil, the creator of evil. Better him than the insane Hades, though.

Rub your body against his…

“Enough!” Any more of this, and she was going to bang her head into the wall until she passed out. No more darkness, no matter how much she liked the results. “I’m not going to do it, even though I want to, so you can just hush.”

Aeron tossed up his arms, a man who’d said goodbye to the last of his patience. “Do what?”

“Never mind. Just, well, until you know more about Legion’s end of the bargain, I wouldn’t trust her. She could have shared secrets, promised to kill one of your friends.”

He shook his head, suddenly confident. “She wouldn’t do that. She loves me.”

His faith in a conniving demon was irritating. Why couldn’t he feel that way about Olivia, a former angel who never, ever lied? Why did he constantly try to push her away?

The bedroom door swung open, and Aeron stumbled backward. Legion caught him with a husky laugh. He quickly straightened and turned. She was wearing one of his T-shirts and a pair of his sweatpants and both bagged on her.

“Happy now?” she asked, twirling on her tiptoes. “This is…all I could find. But you know…what the funny thing is? I still…look good.” In her exuberance, the hesitant pauses returned to her speech.

He backed away from her and into Olivia. Olivia flattened her palms on his shoulder blades to keep him from running, her heart picking up speed. Contact.

“Olivia and I have to go into town. You’re going to stay here. And I mean it this time. Do not go anywhere. I need to talk to you when I return.”

Her siren’s smile quickly faded. “What! No. Hell, no. I’m going…with you.”

“You’re staying, and there’ll be no arguing about it.”

Expression petulant, she stomped her foot. “Why are you…taking the ugly angel then?”

I’m not ugly!

“I need her,” was all Aeron said, but there was steel in his voice. Boiling steel.

Breath hissed between Legion’s teeth as she leveled her gaze on Olivia, who was still peeking around Aeron’s side. There was more hate in those eyes than Olivia had ever seen. “Touch him, and I’ll…kill you. Under…stand?” The more intense her emotions, the more trouble she had speaking, it seemed.