Hellbound Warrior: (Dark Warrior Alliance Book Five) (13 page)

She fed his inner beast, giving him more energy than he’d ever received from a completed sex act. Being part sex-demon, each stage of sex fed his need, but it was completion that gave him the most energy. He wondered what it would be like when he finally succumbed to her.

She bucked and writhed against him. He pulled her closer to the edge of the desk and she wrapped her legs around his waist, enclosing him fully. When her little nails dug into his shoulder he had nearly lost his seed right then and there. He had never really been into pain, but it seemed his little angel could make him enjoy anything. Her inner muscles clamped down on him, making it nearly painful as he continued to surge in and out of her.

He claimed her lips in a passionate kiss, refusing to find release without her. He reached between their bodies and strummed her clit, her carnal growl the only answer needed.

He had no idea what made him pursue her so relentlessly, but he couldn’t be with another female. He didn’t know what he would have done if she hadn’t agreed to have sex with him. Her writhing body against his was more satisfying then bedding a thousand females.

He had tried with the voodoo priestess and he hadn’t lied to Illianna when he told her he hadn’t even been able to get hard. He had panicked when the female stripped and then began playing with her body, enticing him to join her. His cock had stayed flaccid in his pants. It was only through imaging Illianna before him that he got a reaction.

That female had been all wrong, but the one beneath him now was perfect in every sense of the word. She reacted wildly to him and inflamed him to new levels. She likely didn’t realize how crazed she’d become, clawing at him and attacking his mouth. He broke their kiss, catching his breath, but she was desperate for more and latched onto his nipple.

His balls drew up and his spine tingled with warning when she bit down onto his flesh. He pinched her clit, sending her over the edge into a convulsive orgasm. He immediately followed her, his orgasm barreling through him like an inferno, burning as it surged through his body. He’d never felt pleasure so intense…or pain so great, he realized.

He glanced down, certain he had hurt her and that she’d stabbed his groin with a dagger as pain blinded him. In the next moment, he was flat on his ass shouting and cursing. The skin above his cock was bright red and rising as if struck by a hot iron. After a few seconds, a halo with horns could be seen branded into his skin.

Illianna was his Fated Mate.

It registered in his muddled mind that she had gone silent and he was the only one yelling in pain. He wondered if it hurt so much because his mark was so close to his crotch, a highly sensitive area of his body. He glanced up to find her standing by the desk, using it to brace herself as she watched him.

His eyes immediately traveled to her groin, but saw nothing. How was that possible? Supernaturals carried their mate marks on the same part of their body. She should have a halo with horns above her pubic hair, too. He stood on shaky legs and turned her head, scanning the area behind her left ear, where humans carried their mate marks. Nothing. He looked over every inch of her body, but found nothing.

“Stop it. What are you doing? And, what in the hell just happened with you?” she asked, fear and confusion clear in her voice.

He ran his hand through his hair, grateful for the intense pain that interrupted or they’d likely still be fucking. His arousal still demanded he take her again and Rhys was certain without the pain of mating he’d have failed his test for this circle. He wanted to glutton himself on her flesh for eternity. Without this pain, he still be inside her and acting like the gamblers in the other room.

“I have no idea how to explain this to you,” he started.

“Start by telling me what is going on,” she said tightly as she snatched her clothes from the floor.

He retrieved his own clothes and shoved his legs into the pants. “Long story short, you’re my Fated Mate,” he replied as he zipped up.

She sat in silence staring at him with his jacket hanging from her fingers. “What do you mean I’m your Fated Mate?”

“Exactly what I said. We were made for each other. I carry part of your soul and you carry a part of mine,” he explained, reaching a hand out to her.

She ignored his hand and shrugged the jacket on then began pacing the room. “That’s impossible. Angels aren’t made for anyone. We choose everything we do, including our mates. What is that brand on your…body, and, why did it appear after we had sex?”

He ran his hands through his hair and gathered it into a tail, securing it with the tie she had removed during their lovemaking. “I guarantee that we are, indeed, Fated Mates. This mark here is your mating brand. You’ve marked me as yours,” he chose his words very carefully because he had no idea why she didn’t carry his mark, but had a suspicion and didn’t like the implication one bit. He wanted her to think she had claimed him.

She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. Her fire and fight was one of her sexiest traits and he wondered if he was seeing more of how she used to be before her enslavement. Little by little, she was relaxing and opening up, leaving fear and hatred behind.

“I don’t carry your soul and it is impossible for you to carry a piece of any angel unless she chooses you as her mate, and I assure you that I haven’t chosen you. I could never mate with a demon,” she practically spat at him. He cringed at the venom in her voice. Maybe she did still hate his kind because she was all but rejecting him. “And, if what you’re saying is true, then where is my mark? Or, don’t you want an angel for a mate?” she asked, her annoyance obvious.

Rhys stepped into her path, forcing her to stop pacing and look at him. “Trust me, Illianna, I carry part of your soul. It has helped me throughout my life. Held me up during my worst moments and celebrated victories. I have always felt you. I just didn’t know it was you. I want you more than I can adequately express. The question is, how do angels mate?” he asked, cocking his head to study her nervous movements.

“Like most anyone else, we fall in love. Like many species, angels mate for life. We have to consciously choose who we want to be mated to. That often involves a sacrifice followed by our acceptance of them into our hearts,” she shared, coming to a standstill.

“Your way is vastly different than the Tehrex Realm’s way. We discover our Fated Mate the first time we have sex with them and are marked by a brand at completion of sex,” he explained pointing to his groin. “That is followed by a mating ceremony and blood exchange to join us fully. After we are fully mated, we can communicate telepathically with one another. I suspect that the reason you don’t carry my mark is because you haven’t chosen me,” he explained.

“And, I’m not going to choose you,” she informed him. Her rejection would have been more believable if there was more vehemence in her voice.

“We will see about that. We don’t need to figure it all out right now. But, remember our deal. You promised I could give you orgasms whenever and however I want, Luscious. Now, we need to grab some food and meet Dante and Kellen outside,” he said changing the subject.

If he didn’t get out of the room that smelled of sex, he’d be fucking her again and wouldn’t stop. Her lemony powder scent clung to him and was driving him mad. He wanted to throw her against the wall and take her again, but that wasn’t an option at the moment.

“I never agreed to that,” she grumbled, following him out of the room. “Where was that food anyway?”

He resisted the urge to laugh. He doubted she would appreciate that he found her irritation amusing. “You didn’t have to say yes for me to see the agreement in your eyes. And, one of the rooms we passed was a storage room that was full of food and demon brew.”

“God, I hope there is actual food in there. I can’t stomach that rotten demon flesh they’ve been feeding me. Not after tasting real food again,” she stated as they headed for the door.

He hoped so, too, for her sake. He could go for longer periods without food as long as his demon was fed, but he didn’t know enough about angels. “How long can angels go without food?”

She walked past him as he held the door open and he enjoyed the sway of her ass as she walked by. “If we are in Heaven we can go several days, but anywhere else we need food and water daily. Like most creatures, water is far more important for us than food. Don’t worry, I’ve become accustomed to demon brew and prefer it over what they call water down here,” she shared easily. He was glad that they were still sharing openly. He’d feared she would shut him out completely after learning about the mating.

Returning to the room where he had seen the supplies, he opened the door and entered a room the size of a large bedroom. Shelving units were arranged in aisles. It wasn’t a warehouse, exactly, but set up very similar. It was easy to see what the glass jars held inside. Rhys knew the red jars contained demon brew, the Underworld’s version of alcohol. The shit was potent and would get a first-time user drunk off one sip.

The first shelves they inspected contained jars with writhing pieces of gray flesh. She made a facial expression of displeasure and stuck her finger in her throat as if she were gagging.

“That stuff is so vile, it’s unreal. What else is in here?” she mumbled more to herself as she continued down the aisles.

Rhys was content to watch Illianna as she inspected each jar, picking it up and then setting it down. He wasn’t familiar with all the different colored jars. “Are you going to help? This would go a lot faster, you know?”

“I’m enjoying the view too much,” he teased, rubbing his mate mark as pain and arousal shot through him. It hurt like a bitch when it appeared and it continued to burn.

“Well, stop enjoying the view. The last thing I want is to be caught stealing from God-only-knows-who. It’s bad enough that we’re stealing, I don’t need to be tortured for it, as well.”

That got him into gear. She was right. The longer this took, the more she was exposed and at risk. It wasn’t wise to stay in one place too long. He snatched several bottles of demon brew and picked up a green jar. He twisted the top off and was happy to see what looked like a potato. He smelled the contents and noted they had an earthy scent. He grabbed several jars and added them to his pack.

He glanced over and watched Illianna shove a couple of jars into the jacket pockets. “What did you find?” he asked.

She looked up and smiled, “I have no idea, but it smelled like chicken.”

He chuckled at that and finished filling his pack, wishing he had more room. He needed to keep Illianna fed and had no idea what else they would face or how much longer they would be there. On their way out of the room, they each grabbed a couple jars and opened them, eating as they made their way from the house. The mystery meat did, indeed, taste like chicken, Rhys mused.

They were lucky the inhabitants of that realm were too preoccupied with their games. On their way back through, he saw guards that he hadn’t seen before, but they weren’t paying them any attention and they slipped out the front door completely unnoticed.

His body shivered the second they stepped foot back outside. He had been so engrossed in his mate that he had forgotten how cold it was in that realm. His mind was still reeling that he had been blessed with his Fated Mate, in Hell, of all places. Not only was it unbelievable where he had found her, but that she was an angel, for shits sake. The Dark Warriors would never believe it.

To say they were complete opposites was an understatement. The Goddess had a twisted sense of humor. He had never doubted her wisdom, but worried about her choice for him. Illianna had to choose him and she hated all demons.

To make matters worse, it didn’t appear that he was given the benefit of the mating compulsion between them. He’d watched Zander and Jace with their human mates, as well as, Gerrick with his vampires, and, in all of their cases, the females had been helplessly drawn to them. Illianna, on the other hand, had no problem resisting him and had made it clear she would never choose him.

He was merely a means to an end for her which wasn’t very comforting. He climbed down the stairs and found Dante and Kellen waiting for them.

“Thank the Goddess you found food,” Kellen blurted, taking the open jar from his hand.

“Good to see you guys were able to control your appetites,” he told Dante, handing him a jar of the potatoes. He had been worried his Lord and colleague wouldn’t be able to stop once they started.

Dante swallowed a bite of food before responding. “It was a close one, Beelzebub and his Lieutenants raided the house looking for an angel. Otherwise, I fear we would have failed the test in this realm. How did you manage to stop?” Dante asked.

Rhys went on instant alert. His father had managed to get word out about Illianna. Suddenly, he remembered the
shedims
that allowed communication across realms and circles. “Fuck. We need to get out of here right now and keep Illianna safe,” he declared, grabbing Illianna’s hand and walking at a rapid clip.

Dante’s hand on his shoulder was an unwelcome presence. He glared at his Lord. “Slow down. You will draw attention to yourself if you rush around like this,” Dante warned.

Rhys took a deep breath. The male was right. Still, it was a test of his control to remain in place and not whisk Illianna back to Limbo and out of the portal in Tennessee.

“I don’t know if I can. She’s my mate, dammit. My beast is snarling at me to get her the fuck out of here,” Rhys told his companions. Dante and Kellen’s eyes bulged and they looked to him then Illianna.

“Hot damn, brother!” Dante shouted, slapping his back. “Congratulations. At least now we know why you couldn’t leave without taking her with us. Now, calm down, walk slowly and listen to me. They targeted the brothel because they knew you were with her. We need to steer clear of any establishment associated with sex. That’s where they will expect us to be. We understand how important it is to protect your mate, but you are going to need to listen to me. If you’re anything like what we’ve seen with Zander and the others, you won’t be able to see reason where her safety is concerned. Trust that we will never take unnecessary risk.”