“LOLcats,” Sally said, nodding her head. “He’s awesome about things like that.”
“I’m so lost,” Cora said, spinning around to look at him. “Alec? Is she God or not?”
“Not,” he said, taking her in his arms and giving her a little kiss just to stop her from pulling out all her hair. “Together, Terrin and Sally are the Sovereign. They aren’t a god, but they are good, so you can stop worrying that she’s going to harm us.”
“But she talked about torturing Ulfur and me,” she protested. “Surely go—er . . . the Sovereign wouldn’t do that? Surely he or she—”
“We’re commonly referred to as it,” Sally said with a little smile at Terrin.
“—surely it couldn’t be a demon lord, could it?”
“Evidently she can.” Alec wrapped both arms around her, providing her with the comfort he knew she needed.
“But wouldn’t someone have recognized her? ” Pia asked.
“I was wondering the same thing,” Kristoff said, nodding as he glanced at Asmodeus. “Why would you not tell the other demon lords who she was?”
“I didn’t know. It wasn’t until I saw the two of them together that I could see her for what she is.”
“Separate, we’re nothing, just . . . well, just people,” Sally explained. “I made sure that Terrin never came for a visit while I was in my palace here, just in case someone saw us together.”
“Until now,” Cora pointed out.
“Yes, well.” Sally made a vague gesture. “It was inevitable that sooner or later someone would figure it out and take the premier princedom from me. I’m just sorry it was sooner; I was really looking forward to being the head demon lord. I don’t suppose—”
“No,” Asmodeus snapped. “Make me the premier prince now, and I will allow the others to go unscathed.”
Sally sighed. “You just have no idea what you’re missing not having me as a boss. Fine, you can have the job. I’ll just spend all the energy I would have had to reorganizing Abaddon into thwarting your every move. Happy now?”
Asmodeus just looked at her with an expressionless mask, before turning to face toward Alec and the others. “You have three minutes to leave Abaddon. If you are here beyond that time, I will take you prisoner.”
“The agreement between Abaddon and the Moravian Council—” Kristoff started to say, but was interrupted.
“The agreement is null and void as of this moment. You have two minutes and forty seconds remaining.”
Before Alec could do so much as protest the cavalier overturning of an agreement that had stood between Abaddon and the Dark Ones for centuries, Asmodeus disappeared in a cloud of oily black smoke.
Chapter Nineteen
“Are you sure this is a good idea? There’s a whole bunch of people after us, and they’re bound to know we’re here.” I turned the lock on the door, just to make sure no one could get into our room.
“What people?” Alec asked.
“Eleanor, for one. That lichmaster dude for another.”
“Bah.” He waved them away, moving toward me with a familiar glint to his eye.
“Maybe I should feed you again. You only got enough blood to get your engine running before Pia and Kristoff left to take Ulfur back to Italy with them. I know you’re still hungry.”
“I’ll feed in a bit.”
I hesitated, worry riding uppermost in my mind. “Not only are those vamps still out there, and likely to come back and drag you off to the Akasha, but more importantly, you were literally almost ripped in half. Perhaps we need a bit of caution here. The healer did say that your injuries might take a bit longer to fully heal.”
Alec gave me a sloe-eyed look, and before I could so much as rip off my clothing and fling myself on him, he had me naked and on the bed in one of Sally’s non-Abaddon spare rooms.
“I’m fine,” he answered, rubbing his hips against me, the bulging nature of his fly more than enough proof that he was just as anticipatory as I was. But still, I had to be sure.
“No, seriously, I think we should wait.” It was a feeble protest at best, but I couldn’t in all good conscience give in to the hunger that claimed us both.
“You want me as much as I want you,” he murmured in my ear, his breath hot on my neck, his hands tormenting and teasing me with sensual little touches that immediately aroused my deepest passion. “I know you do. I can feel that you do.”
“I think the fact that I can’t keep my hands off you is a dead giveaway to that little fact,” I said, grabbing his hands to keep them from further investigating my chest.
He stopped nibbling my neck and pulled back enough to frown at me, his beautiful green eyes narrowed slightly. “Why do you reject me?”
“I’m not rejecting, just delaying, and I’m doing that because I want to make sure that you’re OK.”
“I’m fine,” he repeated, his hands diving back into breast central.
I squirmed out of his hold, rolled off the bed, snatched up his shirt, pulling it on quickly lest my own needs and desire drive me back into his arms. Luckily for my good intentions, the stark, horrifying memory of Alec lying torn apart and bleeding against the ballroom wall was more than enough to sober me up. “So you say, but I’m a doubting kind of person until I can see things for myself.”
“The best way for me to prove to you that I have healed is to make love to you,” he said, gliding toward me with a look that a panther probably gave a particularly succulent bunny in his path.
“No, the best way to prove it is to strip and let me see your—”
He was naked before the words had left my lips.
It took me a few minutes of allowing my gaze to caress the long, mouthwatering stretches of muscle lying so sleekly under skin that I knew was warm and satiny and tasted so very good.... With an effort, I stopped the path down which my brain was heading, and reminded myself that just a short time earlier he had been almost killed. “Nice try, but I refuse to allow you to distract me that way. Now, let me see. . . .”
The blast of power hadn’t acted on Alec with the precision of a bladed instrument, meaning the thick scar that ran from the center of his chest to the top of his shoulder was jagged and uneven. It was also thick, and still red, and when I laid my hand on it, I could feel the heat as the flesh continued to repair itself. I let my fingers move upward to his neck, gently touching the twisting, angry-looking red seam that stretched from his collarbone around the side to the back of his neck. It, too, was hot to the touch.
Alec was clearly in no condition for the acts he so obviously desired, but if I told him that outright, he’d just scorn my concern and do what he wanted—giving me the most profound, intense pleasure without a single thought of whether it would harm him. I couldn’t let him stress himself, obviously, but how was I to stop him? It was useless to tell myself to just ignore the lure he posed, because that just wasn’t possible, and we both knew it.
No, I’d have to tell him he was going to take a new, much more passive role for the afternoon’s activities.
“Are you finished touching me?” Alec inquired politely. “If you are, it’s my turn.”
“No,” I said with a laugh as I pointed to the bed. “Lie down.”
His frown returned. “You are being dominant. Evidently you are under the impression I like that in my Beloved. While it’s true that I’m prepared to explore new things with you, I have never been one to take enjoyment from being passive.”