The Darkest Pleasure (Lords of the Underworld #3)(34)
Author: Gena Showalter

So he’d tried again, this time taking Paris’s advice and choosing Sunday-school teachers and librarians as his bedmates. The first few times he’d asked them to wear spurs on their ankles and dig them into his back. Among other things he did not like to recall. "You’re sick," a few had cried. "Get help, you pervert."

If only they had continued to resist him.

Before long, they, too, had begun to crave pain. For themselves, a thousand others. When he noticed the hungry glint burning deep in their eyes, he’d ceased all contact, hoping, praying they would morph back into the women they’d once been. They hadn’t.

Soft fingers brushed his brow, smoothing his hair out of the way. Always before, that type of touch had disgusted him. Physically, he’d felt nothing, so the gesture had merely reminded him of what he could never have. Only the hard bite of nails and the sharp sting of teeth had delighted him.

Here, now, with Danika, he still felt nothing physically, but the generous act rocked him emotionally and he found it just as tantalizing as a sting. She had never touched him like this before.

Your demon infects every woman you desire. To have Danika is to damn her soul. Do not forget.

"Reyes?"

He blinked, Danika coming into slow focus. "Yes."

"I lost you."

"I am sorry. You are well?" he asked.

"Yes."

Her hand fell away from him, and both he and the demon wanted to shout in protest. He blinked in surprise. The demon was upset? Missing a soft touch?

"There was a…creature with Aeron."

"Yes," Reyes said with a nod. "I remember."

"Had you seen it before? Do you know where it came from?"

"I had not, but I know it came from hell." Pain had recognized it for what it was – a brother in evil. Reyes turned his head, facing Danika. "Do not concern yourself with him."

She paled, color fading to snow-white. Whatever thoughts danced in her head were not pleasant. "Why didn’t you fight him?"

"The little demon?"

"No. Aeron. I’ve seen you engage him in combat before. You weren’t afraid. You were strong and…" She gulped, as though the rest of the confession pained her. "Capable. But this time, you just stood there. You let him hurt you."

"The Darkest Pleasure"

Reyes straightened fully, his eyes never leaving her. Her legs curved behind her, her hip flat on the mattress. She rested her weight on one elbow, her hair a glorious silk curtain that fell over her shoulders. She still wore jeans. Jeans he had picked out for her. He felt pride and satisfaction, for he’d spent hours shopping for her, hopeful he would one day see her in what he chose.

Her features were so delicate. She could have fallen straight from the heavens and he would not have been surprised. Small, pert nose, rounded cherub cheeks. Ruby-red lips that glistened.

As always, the sight of her caused his chest to ache. Pain loved it, loved the ache and the ensuing hollow sensation in the pit of his stomach. Reyes smiled wryly. Perhaps he would simply gaze upon Danika for the rest of her too-short human life. His demon would always be sated.

At the thought of her death, the ache became a throb.

"Well?" she said.

What had she asked him? He replayed their entire conversation in his mind. Oh, yes. Aeron. Reyes’s secret enjoyment. He’d had good intentions before Pain took over. "I have hurt him many times. He owed me."

"No." Danika shook her head. "That’s not why you did it."

He frowned. No way in hell could she guess the truth. "Then why?"

"You wanted answers. For me. And you thought that was the only way to get them."

All right, maybe she could. Until now, she had only believed the worst about him. Was she…could she possibly be softening toward him?

"Are you and Aeron still friends?" There was a hard edge to her tone this time. So much for softening.

"Yes. We are." He hoped. He loved Aeron. He did. Danika, though…He still wasn’t sure how he felt about her or what, exactly, she meant to him. Only that she did mean something she shouldn’t, and he couldn’t stop the emotions she pulled out of him.

Can’t have her.

"Stop," she said stiffly, and turned away from him. She stared up at the ceiling.

His brows furrowed in confusion. "Stop what?"

"I don’t know. That gleam in your eyes when you look at me, it…distresses me."

"I cannot help myself."

A pause. "There can be nothing between us, Reyes." There at the end, her voice cracked.

"I know."

She wrapped her arms around herself. "What am I doing here?"

"I could not leave you with the Hunters." Truth.

"Maybe you should have."

In that moment, he knew beyond any doubt the Hunters had asked her to act as Bait. His stomach rolled into several hard knots, each beating against the other. He would have to remain alert with her. Always alert. Not reveal anything that could hurt his friends. He would have to watch her, make sure she didn’t try and sneak those bastards inside the fortress or tell them where the warriors were headed. And why.

But he couldn’t let her go. He couldn’t kill her, even though it was the smart thing to do. Even though his friends would demand it if they learned the truth. They suspected, otherwise Sabin wouldn’t have entered Reyes’s room to question her.

How much danger was Reyes placing them in by letting her live? Did it matter to him? I am such a fool. Perhaps he did love her.

Pain laughed giddily at the thought, for love brought its own brand of torment. Lots and lots of torment. In the heart, the soul. Both causing a physical ache too intense to be relieved.

Reyes scowled. "Do not mention the Hunters to my friends," he commanded tightly.

She laughed. Unlike Pain’s, it was not out of giddiness. Strain echoed in the undertones of that forced amusement. "I couldn’t, even if I wanted to."

"And why is that?"

"They left."

His confusion morphed into anger, and he jolted to his feet. The stone was cold against his skin. He stalked to his closet. "When?"

"This morning."

"Everyone?"

"Except the one named Torin. Maybe a few others. I can’t keep your friends straight."

Pausing in the door frame, Reyes pinched the bridge of his nose. Once he would have been furious at being left behind. Now, what he felt for Danika was even stronger than his desire to find dimOuniak.

"They came for you. When they saw you were still recovering, they told me to deliver a message."

A muscle ticked below each of his eyes as he pivoted and faced her. "Well? Deliver it."