Her Demon Prince (Forbidden Fantasy) (8 page)

Her heart began to pound so
hard she swore that he would hear it. “Your wife! But you’re an angel.”

“I was punished for marrying
you.”

“The dream? It happened?”

He closed his eyes for a long
moment. When he opened them they glittered with excruciating pain. He gave her
a short, sharp nod. “Forgive me, Rachael. I couldn’t save you. You are the only
woman I’ve ever loved. I promise you on my life that I will make it up to you.
I’ll do anything you ask.” He crushed her to him, wrapped his leg around her
thigh so that no space separated them.

How had she come to marry an
angel? The very thought was ludicrous, and yet, her intuitive side resonated
with the veracity of his words.

"I know you're telling me
the truth. I can feel it in my body even though your story is so strange."

He stroked her cheek. "I
am unable to lie and when I vow something, I must see it through."

Galaden loved her. She could
feel it emanating from his body and yet, there was darkness there too. Surely
an angel wouldn’t hold blackness in his heart? She put her hands on his chest
and pushed back, knowing she had to look into his eyes. “Something’s not right.
I can sense it. You haven't come here because of me.”

“I'm here to fulfill a promise
I made to my father before he died. Agrat and I are half-brothers, sons of a
king. My mother is an angel, his was a demon.”

“Go on,” she encouraged him.

“Phoebe, in her past life, was
our father’s concubine and Agrat stole her from him.”

She frowned, trying to make
sense of the story. “Why would he do that?”

“He was infatuated with her.
My father punished him by turning him into a statue where he was to remain
forever, but he has escaped and come back to claim her.”

Poor Phoebe. She must be
terrified. Rachael’s heart skipped a beat as she thought of her friend’s
terror. “You have to stop him.”

Galaden’s gaze became steely.
“I’m bound by my oath to kill him.”

Her psychic sense tingled. Why
did she feel he wasn't telling her
all of the
story?
But he was an angel surely he had to tell the truth. “Thank God.”

His eyes moved away from hers
and she had the sense that he was keeping something from her, but he had answered
so many of her questions, she didn’t want to keep probing. Instead, she held
him, comforted by his presence. “Galaden?”

“Yes?”

“Do you still consider me your
wife?”

He turned to her, his gaze
intense and cupped her face in his hands. “When an angel marries it is
forever.”

A surge of wonder consumed her
and she wanted him to make it real by touching her.

As if he knew her thoughts, he
pulled her
tee-shirt
up over her head and threw it on
the floor. “When I first met you I was wounded and you were tending to me.”

“Sounds like a familiar
story.” The corners of her lips turned up.

“I opened my eyes and saw you
bending over me. Your headdress had come loose and your hair was the color of
the desert at sunset. I’d never seen hair that color on a woman and took it in
my hands. I thought, perhaps you were descended from my kind, your coloring was
so vivid.”

“Why did you fall in love with
me?” she asked.

“Your hands were gentle on my
body. I’d never known kindness from a woman until I met you. I heal faster than
a human but the wound was serious and I spent many months with you. My kind is
not affectionate in nature, but you held me when the pain was unbearable and
healed me with your touch. You were all I wanted. You sat with me far into
night and rubbed salve upon my heart, healing it, and in that time I gave it to
you.” He caught her by the wrist and pulled her arm around the back of his
neck. He leaned over and kissed her hard while his hand moved down, seeking her
breasts under her bra.

A moan of ecstasy left her
lips.

He peeled the bra from her
shoulders, exposing her breasts and licked her bare nipples.

Rachael wiggled, wanting more,
needing more. "I love it when you do that."

“I must claim you. It has been
so long since I've known what it is to have you."

“Please.”

Galaden's hand moved down to
between her legs. Sliding his fingers under her panties, he found what he
sought.

She rocked her hips,
responding to him as if she'd always known him.
        

Galaden
kissed the sensitive skin of
her throat down to where her neck met her shoulder.

“I must have you inside me,”
she said. "I need you."

"And I you. Only with you
do I understand love." Galaden moved between her legs and thrust slowly
into her, never taking his eyes from her face."

"I love you."
 
This act was like nothing she'd ever
experienced. It was like being wrapped in a soft blanket of pleasure as she
matched his rhythm.

When he increased his pace,
the ecstasy bloomed through her body, until she arched and the wave of excitement
intensified leaving her gasping.

Galaden groaned.

She moaned.

He shuddered and slumped over
her, his face buried in the crook of her neck. Finally, he raised her face to
hers. "It was too fast. Over too soon."

Rachael stroked his face.
"And yet my body responded as if it knew you. We'll find time for us so
that I can be yours again and again."

He raised his face and kissed
her.

She touched his cheek and his
whole body glowed, his face gentle, contented. “I need your help,” Rachael
said.

“Ask so that I may serve.”

“I think the demon has Phoebe.
I don’t know how to find her.” She absent-mindedly fondled the gold filigree
necklace Phoebe had given her for her birthday.

At the mention of the demon,
Galaden’s eyes narrowed in hatred. “The demon has cloaking powers. I need
something of Phoebe’s to track her. Something precious.”

She held up the necklace.
“Could you use this? It was Phoebe’s but she knew I loved it and gave it to
me.”

He sat up, reached around the
back of her neck and undid the clasp.

“Please find her for me. I’m
terrified that demon will kill her,” Rachael begged.

Galaden’s eyes glittered
dangerously. “I vow to do so.”

Rachael licked her lips, her
mouth suddenly dry. Something was desperately wrong. What was he not telling
her?

Chapter 7

Phoebe was locked in the most erotic dream
of her life. She was a princess in a different time. Her naked prince lay
partially on top of her, his lips at her throat kissing and sucking the tender
skin. His muscled weight pressed her into the bed as his hand moved between her
legs, stroking and teasing her, keeping her on edge. In a moment, she'd climax
and then he would claim her.

He slipped one of his fingers
inside of her and brushed his thumb around her clitoris. She tightened around
him, wanting him, needing him. Steamy heat built at her core as she moved in
time to the magic of his fingers.

She sucked in a gasp of air
and then his lips found hers, his tongue probing and mating. Opening her legs,
she thrust upward as his thumb lightly grazed her clitoris. She thought she
would burst into flame when the orgasm hit her. Writhing and moaning, she
arched her back, thrilled that his touch could delight her, so much so that she
opened her legs wide to encourage him, wanting more, needing more.

This was their last chance to
be together. Something horrible was going to happen but she couldn't remember
what it was. She groaned, the pleasure receding and in the manner of dreams,
the scene changed. A monkey-faced demon had entered the room. Short, sharp
terror seized her.

Phoebe's eyes snapped open.
Lying on top of her was over a hundred pounds of rock-hard male, his erection
pressing into her thigh. His eyes glimmered with the light of the morning as he
moved between her legs and took his cock in his hand to guide it in. "Get
off me." She slammed her hands onto his chest but there was no budging
him. Vulnerability stilled her heart. Agrat, the prince in her dream, had her
pinned to the bed and with her body on erotic
overdrive,
she wanted to wrap her legs around him.

This was not the time to
listen to her hormones.

There was a wild urgency in
his face and he didn't move. "Don't make me stop." His voice was
husky, low and dangerous.

Fear kicked in as she raked
his chest with her nails but he didn't seem to feel pain. There was no way she
could make him do anything if he didn't want to. Instead, he jerked his hips
forward and his penis nudged at her entrance.

She was hot, wet and furious.
"You said you don't rape women."

"I don't." With a
groan of frustration he rolled onto his back, allowing her to scramble off the
bed.

"Then what do you call
what you were about to do?" Looking down she realized she had no
recollection of taking off her clothes. Her head swam with confusion.

"You begged me to make
love to you."

"I saw what you did to
the cop. I was out of my mind. You mesmerized me!" She was aware of
moisture oozing between her legs and the sensuous full feeling in her abdomen.
That orgasm had been real. God, she was about to do the wild thing with a
demon. She must be going crazy.

"I commanded you to
sleep." He turned onto his side, his hot gaze moving over her.

"How convenient. I slept,
while you stripped off my clothes and touched me all over." His body was
more powerful than she remembered carving him. Glaringly dark and dangerous
with arms that packed bulging muscles, Agrat looked like he had the power to
strum her body and never get tired.

"I asked you to remember
what we had together when you loved me." There was a sorrowful catch to
his throat. "You remembered our lovemaking."

"How convenient."
Sexual frustration made her mean. She knew she wanted him just from the way her
nipples peaked with him close, but there was no way she was going to let him
near her. He might be a prince in her dreams, but vague imaginings didn't cut
it.

"You were to be my
wife!"

"Dreams. They were just
dreams." On the floor were her jeans, belt, panties, bra and
tee-shirt
. Bending so fast that her head spun, she gathered
them up as quickly as her shaking hands would let her. Dressing rapidly, she
glanced around the room, careful to keep him in her line of sight. His erection
was enormous, almost reaching his navel. The line of his face was hard and from
the way his stomach muscles were laced, he looked like he could spring from the
bed and have her on her back in an instant. Part of her, like the whisper of a
memory, wanted to be there.

"It was so much more than
that."

Her heart missed a beat at the
depth of truth in his eyes.

"Where am I?" she
asked, choosing to ignore his comment. Fear skated along her spine. In the
burgeoning daylight that illuminated the space through a crack in the blinds,
she saw she was in an ordinary room with cream walls and brown carpet, but she
had no idea how she'd arrived there. She didn't dare cross the room to look out
the window because it was within his arm's distance and just standing close to
him was like asking to be touched. Stroked. Savored. Loved.

"In the safe house on the
outskirts of Salem." He moved his large hand to cover his penis, but his
hand didn't quite do the job. His testicles, which lay nestled at the juncture
of his thighs, looked drawn up and tight.

She could smell sex or at
least her own aroma. Pushing the ensuite bathroom door open, she washed her
hands to get rid of the scent. A shower would have been better, but there was
no way she was getting naked again with this male so close by. Drying her
hands, she pulled the towel off the rail, walked back into the bedroom and
threw it at his hips.

He took the hint. Instead of
wrapping the towel around his hips, he pulled on the shift, his body armor and
sandals.

"Just how long do you
expect me to stay holed up here with you?" she asked.

Agrat strode over to the
window, pulled up the blind and looked out into the early morning gloom.
"Until I kill Galaden."

Her whole body shuddered with
horror. "How can you kill an angel?"

"I will take off his head
and grind his body to dust and scatter it so that he never finds form
again," Agrat said, his eyes beginning to glow.

"Why?" She fought
the urge to step back, disgusted by his relish of the proposed deed. After going
to church so many times reverence for God's angelic forces was ingrained into
her.

"He took everything I
loved; you, my kingdom. I will not let him harm you in this lifetime," he
growled. Sparks flared off his body.

"Why would the angel want
to hurt me?" she asked. What he had told her in the studio seemed surreal.
If she hadn't seen the angel and the demon trying to destroy each other she
wouldn't have believed Galaden was capable of such deadly power. He appeared to
glow with an enticing goodness.

"You were my father's
concubine, but when we fell in love, we were both cursed. I was turned to
stone. My father cursed you with death, if I escaped my stone prison. It is
Galaden's duty to fulfill the curse."

"But why does he have to?
Your father's long gone."

"It's complicated.
Galaden's mother is a fallen angel. She's evil."

Phoebe shuddered and sheer,
black horror spiraled within her. "Fallen angels are real?" Part of
her didn't want believe a word of what he was saying, but unfortunately she was
facing a demon herself, his eyes glowing with wrath, so it wasn't a great mind
jump to make.

"She's from a treacherous
branch of the angelic race, where the females are often more devious than the
males. They seek power by infiltration, which is why Galaden's mother married
my father and bred him a son. Galaden is malleable. He follows orders and
believe me, he will follow the curse through."

Phoebe pressed her palms
against her temples and rubbed them back and forth. "But I still don't get
it. What does he get out of killing me?"

"He must fulfill the
curse from our father. Angels are bred to obey their sire. Plus he knows it
will destroy me if anything happens to you and his hatred of me goes bone
deep."

"So it's really about
punishing you." Her hands dropped to her side. That made more sense to her
than Galaden mindlessly following a curse. In the snippet of her dream, she
didn't remember him that way.

"He was the second son of
my father and an ambitious, unscrupulous angel mother. When he was young I took
care of him, trained him to be a warrior. I thought our shared blood, my love
for him would keep him loyal, but there was too much of his mother in
him."

"Wait a sec. You loved
Galaden?" Phoebe put her hand up to stop him, trying to digest what he was
saying. Hatred for Galaden, she understood. She'd seen the brothers do battle,
but love?

"He was my younger
brother. My nursemaid was instructed to show me no affection so that I became a
warrior prince, but Galaden had a sweet nature when he was young. He was always
by my side," he said, his voice gruff.

"So you cared for
him," Phoebe added.

"Even a poisonous snake
is harmless to strike until its fangs grow strong. When he grew older we became
rivals, but he could never best me with strength or fighting skill."
Agrat's mouth turned down and he clenched and unclenched his fists. "I
didn't reckon on Galaden's cunning. He was weak. A coward. I heard he stood by
his father and watched as a soldier slit Rachael's throat."

"Rachael? My Rachael? Is
that how she's bound up in this?" Phoebe clutched her own throat with
revulsion.

"Galaden will claim
Rachael again and her end will be just as violent if she imagines herself in
love with him."

A cry of anguish left Phoebe's
lips. "But Rachael hasn't done anything to deserve it. She's the most
loyal friend I have." The swirling sinking feeling claimed her and her knees
almost buckled. How could she stop this?

"Galaden has the ability
to attract love. Humans are drawn to his glow."

"Like a moth."

He gave a short, sharp nod.
"His energy is so enticing Rachael could lose her ability to question him.
Instead, she could be consumed with love and he will use that to drain
her."

"Will he kill her?"

"Worse. He will feed off
her
life-force
, enslave her to his will, until she is
no more than a husk under the desert sun. All she will feel is happiness and
believe
herself
in love until he betrays her. That is
his true evil because she will not know what he is until it is too late."

"So he's like a
chameleon. Instead of changing color, he changes personality."

Agrat's expression softened
and his mouth turned down. "He was my younger brother, my only companion
in the nursery. We both had powers inherited from our mothers, so we practiced
them on each other, learned to use them, but we knew when to pull back."

"You loved him?"

"A long time ago, Phoebe,
until I heard that he did not prevent Rachael's slaying. There were rumors that
she'd birthed him a son, but I never discovered if it was true. He even accused
me of killing Rachael and turned against me, but it was not so. I told him time
and time again I did not touch Rachael, but he insisted soldiers had seen me at
her execution. He prefers to blame me instead of his own cowardly nature. I
lost all respect for him when he let his woman die. Rachael was a tender and
beautiful woman, and I owed her much. I knew it was only a matter of time
before Galaden betrayed me and made his bid for my kingdom. I will not let him
near you."

But what
about Rachael?
Panic hit her. Rachael was a savvy New Yorker. She wasn't the type of woman who
would allow someone to ill-treat her, but if Agrat were right, would she be
able to see through someone as powerful as Galaden? "Rachael's not a fool.
She's psychic.
The real deal.
She can get to the
bottom of a lie faster than anyone I know. If something feels off, she'll keep
asking questions and use her gift to find out the truth."

"She was known as a
gifted healer in her past life which is why Galaden was drawn to her in the
first place. Her healing energy was powerful. She was loyal to him to the last and
she died for it," he said bluntly.

Phoebe thought of the look of
ownership on Galaden's face when he'd seen her friend. Oh good God, where was
Rachael now? She adored the angel and if Agrat was right, her dear friend was
in terrible danger.

"I was told she called
out to him, begged him to rescue her from the sword. What kind of creature lets
his love die without trying to save her?" Agrat asked, his voice rumbling
as he paced up and down.

"How do you know he didn't?"

He stopped and stared at her.
"Because Rachael died."

"But you couldn't save me
either."

"I tried, but I failed
you, too. When my father turned me to stone, you were given to Galaden because
my father knew that was the worst punishment he could inflict on me."

For a long moment she stared
into his eyes, as the impact of what he said hit her. When his eyes flamed red
and glowed, he was one hell of a frightening figure, but right then his gaze
held a deep abiding sadness and he clearly wanted to hold her in his arms.