One Night with the Demon Prince: Paranormal Fantasy Demon/Dragon Shifter Romance (Paranormal Protection Agency Book 9) (3 page)

Instantly, an image of the half demon, Rat, formed in her mind. She had no idea why he chose to shorten his name to such an ignoble word. Even if the others at the agency couldn’t see, she easily discarded the illusion and glamor he used to shield his true nature. Royal blood called to royal blood and his was as regal as hers. She just didn’t understand why he chose to hide it.

Not her problem. Even if the guy was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen on two legs. A Demon Prince and a Dragon Queen? The sky would fall… Surely?

“Oh, now he is cute.” Honor edged closer, peering over the umbrella in her glass, bright green this time, with a look completely predatory. Perhaps being bonded to a dragon had imparted some draconic tendencies to the human woman. But then, humans were an apex predator too, so perhaps it was all natural. “Oh shit, he’s coming this way.”

And so he was. Baby ran her finger around the rim of her empty glass, watching him every step of the way. He was flanked on either side by two men of similar age, height, and build. Friends obviously. She could practically see the fraternal bonding between them. On instinct she reached for her powers, and pulled the shadows from the corner of the room, twirling them around her to create a dark backdrop that she stood out against. A jewel set in midnight velvet for display.

“Hey, ladies.”

His voice was low with a pleasant enough timbre. She couldn’t help comparing it to Rat’s fire and brimstone suffused growl. The man had a voice that made her think dark thoughts, and yearn for erotic situations she had no experience of. Suppressing a growl of frustration, she put the demon from her mind and concentrated on the human in front of her.

“Hi, yourself. What's a nice boy like you doing in a place like this?”

His lips quirked as she turned the age-old saying around. Honor snorted and buried her nose in her drink, while Chase was busy glaring as one of the friends rounded the table to stand next to her. Baby sure hoped he asked before touching. Chase had at least three blades on her, and that was before her natural weaponry.

“It's like that, is it?” He grinned and leaned forward, interest sparkling in his eyes. To his credit, his gaze didn’t drop below her shoulders, focused entirely on her face as though the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. “So if I’m a good boy, does that make you a bad girl?”

She allowed her lips to curl into a matching smile, a hint of wickedness slipping free. “It depends.”

“On what?”

She stood and offered him her hand. “On whether you ask me to dance or not…”

***

Rat was a man on a mission. He stormed through the front doors of a club and hit pay dirt. There, whispering through the air and teasing his sensitive nostrils, was the exact scent he was looking for... Feminine allure wound around dry heat with a subtle hint of
total-pain-in-the-ass.

Baby.

It hadn’t taken much to find her. Women as stunning as her, people remembered. Plus the PPA only used one cab firm, so a quick call had gained the location they’d been dropped off at. Lower Easton Street. When he’d arrived, there had been the choice of two clubs.

Sector Five
was the classier of the two, so he started with that. Plus, he was fairly sure the dried vomit on the wall next to the door of the other club would have put off the three dragon women, whose sense of smell was better than his.

The doors banged against the walls behind him and the bouncers wisely stayed out of his way as he strode into the club. It was a maelstrom of sound and packed bodies. Storming through the throng, his anger radiated from his skin. The air behind him swirled and heated, drinks of people that he passed bursting into flame. He ignored the chaos. It was all he could do to keep his horns and tail under wraps. Popping a tail here wasn’t an option…it would freak the humans out.

A couple shifters scuttled out of his way with frightened squeaks. Their terror filled the air. Hedgehog shifters. Not the biggest or the bravest of shifter-kin, and rare. He hadn’t realized there was a pack in town.

Boots clunking against the floor, the sound lost under the heavy throb of the music, he sought his prey. And Baby was his quarry. Since he realized she planned to get laid—to let some other man touch her—he hadn’t been able to think straight.

The moment he’d seen her, all fire and majesty as she faced off against a maniacal rogue sorcerer, he’d known he’d never find another woman to match her. Ever. His heart and body belonged to her in that instant, and even though he knew a demon wasn’t good enough to touch a hair on her head, he couldn’t…wouldn’t let her go. He’d give her time,
had
given her time, but she belonged to him. He’d kill any man who touched her.

Screw being polite. Screw playing the game. She was his. Only his.

Where the fuck was she?

Stopping in the middle of the club, he turned in a slow semi-circle. He could smell her, her scent was playing havoc with his senses. She was here but he couldn’t see her.

Fuck. He scraped a shaking hand through his hair. His father would be laughing his freaking socks off if he could see Rat right now. He’d always urged his offspring to treat them mean and keep them keen. To be as ruthless as he was himself. Fuck and kick out was Lakai’s mantra, but what else would anyone expect from the King of the Seven Hells?

His father was a demon king,
the
Demon King.

That was one little fact Rat kept off his file with the PPA. Despite his mixed blood, he wasn’t a prince of one of the minor hells. He was Prince of
all
of them.
Raterrenh Di Lakai Telosa, son of Lakai. Prince of the Night and Shadows, Lord of the Seventh Gate and all the minor hells below
. Which totally made him badass demon royalty.

It would be impressive if his family wasn’t dysfunctional. He’d lost count of the times his father tried to have him killed. Seemed the old man viewed sending assassins every once in a while an act of affection.

His mother was, if possible, even less affectionate. A pixie warlady with a fearsome reputation, she considered Rat little more than an unfortunate accident, and most of the time seemed surprised he hadn’t died in childhood.

With family like that, who needed enemies?

It meant one thing though. Rat was as ruthless as either parent, and twice as determined. And he was set on one thing… Baby.

He
would
have her. If any man touched her, ever, it would be him.

The crowds parted ahead of him like theatre curtains, and there she was. In the middle of the dance floor, her fiery hair and darkness were a cape around her. The music hummed through his body, each beat echoed by his heart and the surge of blood through his cock. Sight and sound combined to send lust through his warrior’s body, freezing him in place. His heart stuttered, hands clenching at his side as he watched her.

She was perfect. From the top of her head, adorned with flame-like locks to the tips of her delicate toes. Acres of creamy, pale skin he ached to touch. To stroke and caress and make his own.

The crowd moved again and she was hidden from view. He started forward, cleaving through the crowd, scattering dancers to get to her. They moved like a sea and he spotted her again…

In the arms of another man. Their body language reeked of lust. Fury burst through Rat. Red obliterated his vision. Within a heartbeat he stood next to them, his gaze hard as he shoved his body between them.

“This is my dance.”

“What? Hey!” the displaced human exclaimed, trying to yank Rat away. “Get your own dance partner, asshole!”

“Fuck off if you know what’s good for you,” Rat snarled over his shoulder, fangs visible, “…
human
.”

The guy paled, backpedaling as all hints of lust disappeared from his scent, replaced by fear. Rat lifted his lip higher in a sneer and released a little of his inner fire to flare in his eyes. The human stumbled back and knocked over a couple of female clubbers. They swore at him, a torrent of abuse as he made his escape. Rat’s lips quirked and he turned back around.

To find Baby watching him.

“Pathetic human wouldn’t have made a good mate anyway.” He found himself growling in self-defense.

Her full lips pursed. “Who said anything about taking a mate. I just want to fu—”

He couldn’t hear those words on her lips, not if he wanted to keep his composure and avoid taking her here and now. Yanking her closer, he crashed his lips over hers.

*

Whatever Baby had expected of the evening, it wasn’t for Rat to arrive and scare off her human admirer. It
certainly
wasn’t for him to cast off jealousy like a furnace gave off heat, or for him to kiss her…

His lips were so damn soft.

A whimper rose in her throat and she wriggled to get closer to him. His hard body was packed with muscles she’d admired from afar. Hot, dense, solid muscles…She flattened her palms over his pecs, not sure if she had the courage to explore farther.

Sliding his hand into the nape of her neck, he tilted her head and seduced her with his lips. She’d heard demons were masters of the sensual arts, so skilled as lovers that their victims happily handed over their souls for just one more kiss, but she’d never believed it. Not of him. Not of Raterrenh…

Rat suited him better.

He was all hard edges and attitude, with the body of a dark angel and a face that would tempt many a woman into sin. Dark eyes, high cheekbones, and a noble nose were set above lips too sensual for any mortal man. Lips that whispered over hers, going from soft and gentle as he explored, to hard and dominant.

His hands cupped her face, his tongue brushing the closed seam of her lips. A hot demand for access she gave into instantly. She’d ignored the spark between them the moment they’d met. Dragon queen, demon prince. They would be like oil and water…they were too different to make this work. Surely?

Who cares if it doesn’t work…it only needs to be one night…

The scales fell from her eyes. One night. It only had to be one night.

She’d planned to experiment, use a human guy to find out if sex was as good in the flesh as it seemed when she’d been a passenger for all those years. But why a human guy? Why not Rat? Why go second rate when she could have the best…and she knew Rat would be good. He had that bad boy swagger and dangerous edge that screamed virility and experience.

Making her decision, she parted her lips to let him in.

He started, but didn’t miss a beat. A second later he pushed his tongue into her mouth. Thrust in to find hers and slide against it. Brushing, stroking, teasing…claiming.

Her moan was unbidden, as was the heat that exploded in her veins to race through her body. Tingles began low in her stomach, reaching quivering tendrils outward. Downward. Her pussy clenched, aching for something she’d never experienced. For a feeling she knew, yet didn’t. For something she knew he could give her.

Kissing him back, she sucked on his tongue. He growled again and let go of her face to pull her hard against his body. She gasped as she collided with his solid frame. He was harder than the human she’d been dancing with. Even though he had been fit, his chiseled muscles and six pack evident of time spent in the gym, Rat was harder. Like he wasn’t made of flesh and blood…

Demons are made of fire, sin…and sex.

The thought insinuated itself into her mind at the same moment his large hand spread over the back of her hips and pulled them flush against his. The thick, hard bar of his cock prodded her softer belly, leaving her no doubt how much he wanted this. A low hum started in the center of her chest but she ignored it to focus on the here and now.

Her train of thought didn’t so much scatter as explode like a supernova going critical. She broke away, mouth open to say something, but words failed her.

He leaned down to whisper in her ear, his deep voice silken temptation. “You’re mine, Baby. I’m going to take you home and come morning, your entire block’ll know my name.”

She blinked, distracted by the whisper of his lips over the soft spot just below her ear. “You won’t have time to introduce yourself if we…you know.”

“Sweetheart, I won’t be introducing myself…” He chuckled, tilting her chin to kiss her throat under her chin.

“Then how will they know?”

He pulled back to look into her eyes, and heat blazed there. Not the heat of desire, although that was there in spades, but actual flames danced in the orbs for a moment before he blinked and reasserted his human eyes. Her dragon growled, wanting to curl around the heat.

“Because you’ll be screaming my name all night.”

Chapter Three

The cab ride was mercifully swift. Half in Rat’s lap for the duration, she kept her attention on him rather than their journey. Whatever else Baby could say about him, he sure as hell could kiss. Teasing and tempting her with his lips and tongue, he kept her riding the edge of need and unfulfilled desire until she wasn’t sure which way was up.

Through it all, he hadn’t touched her tits or below the waist. The most he’d done was brushed the back of his thumb against the underside of her breast. The soft touch had been enough to steal her breath and any thought other than to press closer to him.

“Not here, sweetheart,” he whispered against her lips.

As he pulled away she realized the cab had pulled up outside her apartment block. He urged her out of the back of the vehicle, paying the fare, and within a minute they stood alone on the sidewalk.

His face in shadow, he studied her, his big body tight with control. She felt the need and lust rolling off him in waves. Her inner dragon wanted to pull him closer and revel in it. Kiss him until neither of them could think, until he was buried deeply inside her, moving within her in that age old danc—

“Carry on looking at me like that and we won’t make it up to your place,” he growled in warning, setting her away from him when she moved in for a kiss. Hands firm on her upper arms, he looked at her directly.

“Do you want this? Fuck, listen to me…” He broke away with a laugh, shoving a hand through his hair as he turned, obviously trying to regain his composure. Finally he looked back at her, his eyes burned with twin flames of desire. “I’m so fucking hard…I want you so much it hurts, Baby, but if you’re not sure then say
now.
If we get up there, I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop.”