Unbound
Books by Kate Douglas
Paranormal Romances by Kate Douglas
Published with
Kensington
DemonFire
HellFire
“Crystal Dreams” in
Nocturnal
StarFire
Erotic Romance by Kate Douglas
Published with
Kensington
Wolf Tales
“Chanku Rising” in
Sexy Beast
Wolf Tales II
“Camille’s Dawn” in
Wild Nights
Wolf Tales III
“Chanku Fallen” in
Sexy Beast II
Wolf Tales IV
“Chanku Journey” in
Sexy Beast III
Wolf Tales V
“Chanku Destiny” in
Sexy Beast IV
Wolf Tales VI
“Chanku Wild” in
Sexy Beast V
Wolf Tales VII
“Chanku Honor” in
Sexy Beast VI
Wolf Tales VIII
“Chanku Challenge” in
Sexy Beast VII
Wolf Tales 9
“Chanku Spirit” in
Sexy Beast VIII
Wolf Tales 10
Wolf Tales 11
Wolf Tales 12
Demon Lovers
Book 2: Unbound
Kate Douglas
Beyond the Page Books
are published by
Beyond the Page Publishing
Copyright © 2011 by Kate Douglas
Cover illustration by Dar Albert, Wicked Smart Designs
Cover design by Dar Albert, Wicked Smart Designs
ISBN: 978-1-937349-10-3
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
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Contents
Chapter 1
With a startled curse, Addie ducked, bent low at the waist and twisted to the left as the demon charged. The ugly beast dove right over the top of her. She jabbed her short sword straight up, felt the almost rubbery sensation as sharp point hit thick demon hide, and then the smooth slide as it pierced the creature’s gut.
The weight of the beast and its forward momentum added strength to Addie’s thrust. Gripping the hilt in both hands, she sliced the demon from sternum to crotch as he sailed overhead.
The foul stink of demon guts pouring from the creature’s belly left her gagging. Addie rolled to her right, barely avoiding the coils of steaming intestines.
A mind-numbing screech echoed off the filthy brick walls of the narrow alley.
Addie heard Locan’s curse over the demon’s angry cry. She bounced to her feet beside Jett, slipping in the green blood and tangled viscera, short sword in hand. Ready, once again, to fight.
One thing she’d learned over the past month—eviscerating a demon didn’t always kill one of the damned things, but at least it slowed them down. Jett flashed a brilliant grin—teeth sharp and white against ebony skin—and gave her a quick thumbs-up. “Good job, Addie!”
Then he swung his broadsword, aiming for the juncture between the demon’s head and shoulder.
And that was when things went horribly wrong.
Jett’s foot slipped in the sloppy mass of intestines. Locan reached out to steady his partner, but he missed, and Jett slid beneath the demon’s crouching form.
Addie screamed. Locan grabbed Jett’s arm to pull him back, but the demon lunged, sinking his serrated fangs into Jett’s throat, just at the point where neck and shoulder met.
The heavy black studded leather of Jett’s vest was no protection at all against the demon’s attack. Snarling, the filthy beast bit down, hard, just as Jett’s sword went through the creature’s chest and ripped out through the heavy scales on his back. Locan swung his blade with his usual precision, beheading the demon while its jaws were still locked on Jett’s throat.
Addie slid to her knees in the steaming entrails, grabbed the demon’s heavy jaws and pulled them open with all her strength. Jett’s eyes were closed, his mouth twisted with pain as she carefully slid the long fangs out of his throat and shoulder.
The demon’s head rolled across the filthy ground and stopped against its body. Within seconds, the eviscerated corpse turned into nothing more than a puddle of steaming black goo, but demon disposal was the least of Addie’s worries.
Jett groaned and his long body jerked and shuddered in convulsions. Incandescent yellow saliva glowed all about the ragged wound, mingling with his blood, covering Addie’s fingers.
Heart pounding in her chest, she stared at the gel-like substance sticking to her hands, covering Jett’s horrible wound. “Locan? What is this stuff? It’s everywhere. Shit. It burns!” She started to wipe her hand against her jeans. Locan stopped her.
“Don’t. I think it’s . . . holy shit, Addie. It looks like some kind of venom.” He grabbed a plastic bottle out of his pack and poured water over Jett’s throat. It sizzled and steamed wherever it touched the yellow gunk, but he succeeded in rinsing much of it away. “Don’t touch it. Here. Hold your hands out.”
He poured more water over her fingers, washing the foul stuff away. Once the venom was diluted, Addie wiped her hands on her jeans, but her skin still burned where it had touched her. She couldn’t imagine what it was doing to Jett. She realized she was actually thankful for the loud rasp of his breathing, the blood pouring from his torn throat—evidence he was alive.
At least the convulsions had stopped.
He was unconscious, his body completely limp. “What do we do?” She shot a quick look at Locan, but he was staring blankly at his lover. After a moment he raised his head.
Addie bit back a soft curse. Locan’s crystalline blue eyes brimmed with tears. He was crying. Crying for a man he’d tried to kill less than a month ago.
“Help me.” She had to take charge. Wasn’t that part of the fulcrum’s job? “We’re taking him home now. The shift between dimensions will help.”
Locan nodded, slipped his arms under Jett’s limp form and slowly stood, cradling his lover against his chest. Addie looped her arms around Locan’s waist and
thought
them back home.
Back to the place that was between worlds, to a dimension that existed out of time, out of space. Or, as Jett had once explained,
a place between what was and what wasn’t.
As reality spun and the dark, ugly alley disappeared around them, Addie couldn’t help but think of the changes in her life in just one month. So many things she never would have believed possible—now, they were part of what she thought of as her new normal.
It was enough to give her hope that Jett would be just fine, once they got him home.
Though it wasn’t like any home Addie had ever known before.
***
Sometimes it felt like a dream, that life she’d lived before. Even now, after a month with her boys, as Addie tended to think of Jett and Locan, it seemed almost impossible that a mere four weeks ago she’d been moaning into her margarita at Paddy’s Bar with the rest of the gang from the office. A massive layoff had left all of them unemployed, and no one was really sure what they’d be doing next.
She’d known things would be different after losing her job, but Addie’d certainly not expected a career change like this. A chance encounter with a badly injured woman in the park that night had changed her life forever.
In fact,
life
and
forever
now had entirely new meanings. Before she died, the woman—Addie’d found out later her name was Leah—had lunged at Addie, bitten her in the throat and somehow passed on some really weird powers—including immortality.
Immortality as long as she didn’t get killed by a demon—which was a lot more of a risk in her new life than it had ever been before, seeing that she was now not only the newest warrior on a team of demon hunters, but their fulcrum, as well.
It had taken her a while to figure that part out. At first she hadn’t been at all sure what a fulcrum did, but along with the powers had come two of the most amazing men she’d ever met—if you could call Locan and Jett
men
. They might not be human, but they were most definitely male.
And Addie, who had counted a night out with her friends as excitement, discovered that her duties as fulcrum for Jett and Locan meant keeping the two of them from killing each other.
All she had to do, essentially, was hold everything in balance. Jett’s dark, demonic nature and Locan’s light yet equally demonic soul had put them on opposite sides as demons. Once their original fulcrum had changed each of them from demon to demon hunter, their goals had aligned.
Unfortunately, their natures not so much—they still wanted to kill each other.
But that was Addie’s new job, which turned out to be quite simple, really, once she got the hang of sex with two drop-dead gorgeous guys. Because sex—mouthwatering, mind-bending, over-the-top sex—was the key to keeping them in line.
But Addie had taken her duties a step beyond any of their past fulcrums—she’d managed to show Jett and Locan how the antagonism they felt for one another was nothing more than frustrated desire. She’d made it possible for them to admit they truly loved each other, and then they’d included Addie in that powerful bond.
Damn, but she was growing more fond of her responsibilities—and her boys—by the day.
But now, Jett was lying in Locan’s arms, unconscious, bleeding from a horrible wound in his throat, poisoned by venom from an unknown type of demon.
A month might not be all that long in the life of a newly made immortal, but Addie knew it was long enough to fall in love, and come hell or high water, she was not losing Jett.
Chapter 2
She had no idea how it worked, but one of the first things Addie had learned after joining up with Locan and Jett was that shifting between dimensions helped to heal injuries. With that thought in mind, her thundering heart finally slowed almost to normal as they materialized in the largest part of their cavern—a warren of tunnels and rooms that had quickly become her home.
Locan carried Jett into the quarters set aside just for him.
Not that Jett had slept there very much, at least not since Addie had joined the team. She threw an old towel over the foot of the bed to keep the gore covering Jett’s boots off the spread, and then stepped back out of the way. Locan carefully arranged the injured hunter’s arms and legs to be as comfortable as possible. Then he placed his fingers against the healing wound in Jett’s throat.
The deepest gashes had closed, spilled blood had dried to a dark rusty red that barely showed against Jett’s midnight skin, but Addie noticed a fluorescent yellow shimmer beneath his jawline. “I thought the poison would disappear when we shifted dimensions.” She raised her head and gazed into Locan’s shadowed eyes. “There’s venom everywhere.”
He shook his head. “I see it. I’ve seen poisonous blood and venom in demons that looked more like snakes, but that one looked like a plain old run-of-the-mill demon. I didn’t expect venom.”
Addie slipped into the bathroom and ran cold water on a clean washcloth. The amenities were every bit as modern as what she’d had in her apartment. One day she’d need to ask the guys how that could possibly be.
But for now, Jett needed her. Stepping quickly into the room, she sat beside him on the bed and carefully wiped away the dried blood and the remnants of yellow venom. The gunk was thick and iridescent, shimmering with its own fire against Jett’s dark skin, but it wiped away with the damp cloth. She was careful to get as much as she could, rinsed out the cloth and then once again gently scrubbed Jett’s throat.
She was so intent on the job she was doing, she didn’t realize he’d opened his eyes. His long fingers wrapped around her wrist. “Addie? What are you doing? What’s wrong?”
Relief left her weak in the knees. Thank goodness she was sitting, or she’d have landed on her butt. “I’m cleaning demon spit off of you. What does it feel like?”
“Foreplay.” He cracked a wicked grin.
Locan laughed, but it was laughter borne of relief, not humor. “I hope you realize you scared the crap out of us. You okay?”
Frowning, Jett ran his fingers over the healed patch of new skin on his throat. “I think so. I remember going after the demon and getting tangled up in his guts.” He raised up on his elbows and looked at his feet. His boots were still covered in gore. “Yuck. No wonder it stinks in here.” He swung his legs around to sit on the edge of the bed beside Addie, then planted his feet on the floor.
Rubbing one hand over the back of his neck, he glanced at Locan and then Addie. “Thanks, guys. I don’t remember anything after that damned thing bit me. Thanks for getting me out of there.” He turned to Locan. “Did you kill it?”
“Beheaded it. That usually works.”
“We didn’t hang around to find out,” Addie said. “We had to get you home.” She slid off the bed and tossed the filthy washcloth in the hamper. “Let’s get Jett to the pool. We can scrub him off a lot better in there.”
“Works for me.” Locan grabbed Jett’s arm to steady him. “C’mon, demon bait. You need a bath.”
“Like you don’t? I’m not the one responsible for all the stench in here.” Jett glanced at Locan’s white leather pants, now smeared in a most disgusting pattern of green demon blood and foul splatters of other body parts. “Unless, of course, you’re making a fashion statement.”
“Fuck you.” At least he was grinning and lifting Jett as he said it.
Jett glanced at Addie and laughed. Locan punched Jett’s shoulder and he shoved back. Pushing and shoving each other like a couple of ten-year-olds, the guys headed for the bathing pool at the back of the cavern. Addie watched them, and felt the worry falling away. She’d never admit how much she worried about her guys. Couldn’t let on how important they’d become to her. She wasn’t quite sure how it happened so fast, but they’d quickly become her life.
Probably Stockholm syndrome. She wasn’t actually their prisoner, but once Leah bit her in the throat and passed on whatever it was that changed Addie from working girl to demon hunter slash fulcrum, Addie’d realized it wasn’t something she’d ever be able to escape. Addie Logan, junior accountant, was no more. In fact, she wondered if anyone had even looked for her.
She’d been gone now for a whole month. She’d grabbed what few things she wanted from her apartment, but since she wasn’t paying the rent, her sleazy manager wasn’t going to wait around.
She wouldn’t be surprised if he’d already rented it to someone else. She glanced at her surroundings, at the slick cavern walls, the soft lighting that seemed to shine right through the rock, and shook her head. There was no explanation. None. But she liked it. Even fighting demons . . . go figure.
The guys had been gone long enough. If she’d timed this right, things just might be getting interesting.
* * *
Locan didn’t say anything as he knelt and untied Jett’s boots, helped him slip out of his filthy gear and then silently stripped off his own disgusting clothes. He took Jett’s hand, helping him into the warm pool and leading him to the spot where water bubbled out of one wall from an underground spring.
Locan had actually managed to help him without a single insult, but Jett was grateful.
He was also becoming aroused, though that had become an almost constant state since he and Locan had gotten past their guy-on-guy issues. Thanks to Addie.
So much had changed because of Addie, but there was still that male attitude that could get both of them in trouble, and as much as he appreciated Locan’s help, Jett was afraid Locan would be insulted if he thanked him. Jett glanced at his partner and caught the worry in the man’s eyes. That alone kept him quiet. If he went all girly and let him know how much he appreciated his assistance, Locan would know exactly how weak he felt.
Couldn’t have that. Jett eased down into the gently churning water, closed his eyes and sighed. The warm water filled with the scent of minerals soothed sore muscles, while the constant turbulence from the hot spring slowly, gently washed away the disgusting crap still covering his skin. His neck throbbed like a sonofabitch, and there was a weird, fiery burn in his veins, as if the venom had gotten inside him. As if it were working its way through his system.
Locan brushed the hair back from Jett’s eyes, but he pretended he was doing it to check out the healing wound in his throat. Idiot. So afraid that Jett would think he was turning soft, but then Jett wasn’t about to say a word, either. No way could he tell Locan how much his touch meant, how much he loved the bastard. No, he’d merely enjoy the soothing touch his buddy shared and keep his mouth shut.
Jett figured he’d earned some soothing after that fight, though the rush of water from the natural hot spring in their underground bathing pool had been known to wake up a few of their more male-specific muscles. Locan moved away and sat on the rock ledge beside Jett as Addie stepped into the bathing room, slipped out of her filthy gear and dumped it unceremoniously on the floor. Jett heard the clatter of her short sword hitting the stone floor and watched as she carefully set aside the knife she kept strapped to her leg and the small bow with its deadly darts that she’d left slung over her shoulder.
She was definitely not the same woman who had first come to them, scared spitless and totally unaware of what her new job as their fulcrum entailed. But damn, the girl was a fast learner. He held out his hand to her as she half walked, half swam across the pool. Their fingers touched and he shivered with sudden need.
The same need he felt whenever he and Locan touched.
He was still sort of loopy, which was really unusual. He’d been knocked around and knocked out before, not to mention bitten, stabbed, jabbed and gored. Punched and clawed and even picked up and dropped a time or two, but he’d always come back around without any lasting effects.
Now, as blood rushed to his suddenly throbbing dick, Jett’s world began to spin and he fell forward in slow motion. Locan didn’t say a word. He just grabbed Jett’s right arm and pulled him back against the stone ledge, but he nailed him with an intense stare out of those crystalline blue eyes.
“Thanks, man.” Jett slowly shook his head. “Must have lost more blood than I realized.”
“You okay?”
He glanced up and gazed into Addie’s amazing eyes. Deep brown, like rich coffee, but circled with tiny flecks of gold, and they were focused on him with almost laser-sharp insight. Different color than Locan’s—same intent. The girl could read a lie better than words on a printed page.
Accepting defeat, he shook his head. “No. Not a hundred percent.” He grinned at her and licked his lips. “But I know what could make me feel better.”
Her face slowly tipped. He felt her gaze traveling from the healing wound on his throat, over his pecs and down to the point where the water rose against his abs. It was a physical, visceral caress that made the muscles in his belly clench, tightened his balls up between his legs and lengthened his already erect cock.
He was hard as granite right now, but the dark, swirling water hid his erection from curious eyes. There was no doubt in his mind that Addie’s imagination was filling in what she couldn’t see, and when she raised her head and licked her lips, he knew exactly what she wanted. What he needed. He reached for her and snagged his fingers around the back of her neck. “Come here.”
“Are you sure? Are you okay?” Her chin came up and she stared directly at his throat. He still felt the burn from the venom, but it was nothing to the fire in his veins, the heat boiling in his gut, the need that burned from the inside out. He wanted. Needed. Had to have her. Locan shifted closer beside him, and Jett jerked his gaze away from Addie. Still holding her, his fingers still wrapped around the side of her throat, his thumb under her chin, he focused on Locan. Felt his desire like a punch to his heart.
“I’m sure. Now. Right now.”
Addie touched his cheek with her fingertips, with a gentle nudge brought him back so that he faced her, not Locan. She leaned close and pressed her lips against his mouth. He opened to her and she sucked his tongue, nibbled at his lips. She cupped his face in her hands and deepened the kiss.
Damn but she was eating him alive and it sent his need soaring. He wrapped his right arm around Locan’s neck and hauled him close, but Addie took control. Her arms went around his waist and, using the buoyancy of the pool, she shifted them both so that she was the one on the ledge and Jett was standing in front of her, his cock brushing the soft curls and intense heat between her thighs. He groaned and his hands dropped first to her hips, then clutched her slim waist. He held on, and anchored himself in her heat and strength.
But he didn’t penetrate. Not yet.
Locan slipped around behind him. Jett felt the brush of his lover’s thick cock against his butt and shivered in reaction. Good. It was all so good. He centered himself with Addie and gently pushed forward. Her labia parted, drawing him deep inside. She was hot and slick and so ready. Sighing, she looped her arms over his shoulders and arched against him.
Locan’s fingers pressed against his anus, gentle at first, then harder. This was still fairly new, this physical relationship the two men had discovered with Addie’s help, and Jett tightened at first, but Locan nipped his shoulder, kissed the sensitive spot behind his ear. Laughing, he ran his tongue around the outside and then licked inside Jett’s ear. “Let me in, big guy. Don’t fight it.”
He grunted. “Yeah. I know. It’s just not as easy as it sounds.” He usually topped and Locan was the one he had to gentle, but Jett’s body trembled with Locan’s touch. “I’m okay. Go ahead.” He focused on his own desire, thrust deep inside Addie and presented his ass like a damned gift. Locan took it. He knew exactly what to do to make it right, and with a minimum of pain to Jett, slipped through the tight ring of muscle and then slowly slid inside.
Addie held perfectly still. Jett leaned into her, nuzzling her throat, nipping and kissing, while Locan slowly pressed even deeper. Shivers broke out across Jett’s arms, over his chest. His balls tightened even more, his cock got harder. Addie sighed again. He felt her relax and then it was all about the rhythm, the three of them moving together as if they’d done this forever.
As if they’d loved forever, yet it had barely been a month. And a month was nothing to a man who was immortal.