This was important, he realized. This moment. “I’m not most people.”
Her lips began to curl, but then the smile that would have been vanished almost instantly. “You kissed me. Knowing what I can do, after you saw—you kissed me.”
He kissed her again. Hard. Thrust his tongue past those perfect white teeth and savored the warmth of her mouth.
Not enough.
His hands dropped to her hips. She was wearing a dress. A slinky, sexy-as-hell black dress that fit her body like a second skin and skirted the top of her knees.
His mouth moved to her neck. He licked. Sucked. Bit. Whispered, “Hell, yeah, I still kissed you. You’re mine. ” Time for them to both realize that fact.
“But you don’t know the real me, not—”
Her words had him pulling back, glaring down at her. “I know everything that matters. I know the demon. I know the woman. I fucking want them both.”
He grabbed the fabric of her dress, hiked it up to her waist. “And you want me.”
A nod.
“Don’t do it again, Cara. Don’t take another when I’m near—”
Her black eyes widened. “I would never take another while I’m with you. Never. Back there, that was a succubus fighting. That is our way. We fight, we kill, with just a kiss.”
Scary shit.
“I wanted you to see me,” she whispered the words as his hands caressed the warm flesh of her hips. “Not the woman you think I am, but what I’m like inside. What I can do.” She sucked in a sharp breath. “What I’ve done.”
“You are exactly who I think you are.” He was still furious as hell, but the rage was channeling fast into a white-hot need, a need that had been stirred in the bull pen, but ignited to a flash point once he’d gotten her alone and tasted her again.
“I’m not weak. Not some simple prey.” She whispered the words again.
He stared into her eyes. Ancient eyes. Mysterious. “No,” he agreed, “you sure as hell aren’t.”
“I can be dangerous—I don’t want to hurt you—”
Was the woman trying to warn him off? Because it was far too late for that. “You won’t.” He eased down in front of her, bending to his knees.
“Todd? What—”
“God, but I need you, Cara, I need you. ”
She touched his cheek, her fingers moving in a featherlight caress. “It really doesn’t matter to you, does it?”
He turned his hand. Pressed a hot kiss against her palm. “Demon, woman, both are mine. ” He stared up at her. “Just don’t ever even think about making me prey.”
“I never would.” Her lips curved again and her stare softened as she gazed down at him.
“Good.” They would have a hell of a lot more to hash out later. But that would all come, later.
Now, he wanted her. They were alone, and his cock felt like it was going to burst.
He hiked up her skirt a little more, found the small silk of her panties. He pressed a kiss to the crotch of the underwear, putting his lips close to her covered sex and enjoying the soft feel of woman and silk against his mouth.
But he knew he wanted more.
They wouldn’t have long. Someone would look for them eventually. Track him down. Demand explanations.
Fuck that.
He caught the edge of her panties with his teeth. Tugged until the seam broke. Heard the delicious sound of her laughter.
Damn, but the woman had made him into a walking hard-on.
She spread her legs for him, needing no urging. He touched her sex. Found her creamy and ready. Just the way he wanted her.
Edging closer, he curled his fingers around the firm cheeks of her ass. Her hips rocked forward, and his mouth claimed the hot core of her body.
His tongue slid over her clit and a shudder rocked her. So good.
Yet it could be even better.
One hand slid down the curve of her ass, and his fingers curled between her legs. Found her tight opening. Todd pushed his index finger inside her.
Licked.
Another finger. Thrust harder.
A lick.
Then a slow suck on her tight point of need.
Her sex clenched around him.
Oh, hell, yes.
“Todd!”
A demand. Her fingers were buried in his hair. She pulled the strands once. Hard.
Growling, he lifted his head, tasting her, wanting more, and—
The lust on her face drove the breath from his lungs. The raw need.
The same need he felt.
He was up in a instant, hands flying to the buckle of his belt. Their fingers met, fought, and somehow they managed to get the top of his pants undone and his cock out.
He couldn’t wait to be balls-deep in her.
Todd grabbed Cara, spun her around, and lifted her onto the old table in the middle of the room. The table groaned beneath her, the faded wood protesting, but right then, Todd didn’t give a shit.
If they’d ended up on the ground, he wouldn’t have cared. As long as he’d was inside her…
Her legs were open, the pink folds of her sex glistening and tempting him. He caught his cock in one hand. Lodged it against that creamy slit.
“Now, love,” she whispered.
He thrust as deep as he could go.
Their eyes met.
He withdrew.
Thrust.
Again. Again. Again.
He covered her mouth to muffle her moans.
To muffle his own.
His thrusts shoved the table across the floor. Cara held on to him, her fingers digging into his arms, her nails scoring his flesh.
He felt her come, that same, wild, mad fury of passion that was hers, his. That joining that he didn’t understand, but longed for with every breath.
Then he was coming, his semen pumping deep into her as he stiffened and fought to hold on to his sanity.
Her hand moved, drifted to his heart.
The pleasure seemed to double. Burning through him, to her, back to him.
The room swirled around him in a flash of colors. His body quivered, his breath panted out.
When the orgasm ended, he lifted his lips, pressed a kiss to her cheek. Tasted tears.
Cara stared up at him, and her skin was so beautiful it almost hurt to look at her with that magic light spilling from her— from the inside, out.
Energy pumped through his veins. The power she’d given to him.
Given, not taken.
The salt of her tears seemed to burn his mouth. “Cara?” He’d known only pleasure, and he’d thought she had, too.
Her lips parted. Then the hand still over his heart pushed against him. Pushed him away.
No. He didn’t want to retreat from her. Not yet.
But she was pushing him, and time had run out. The passion had barely been sated, but he’d have her again.
Soon.
He eased away from her, hating the loss of the tight clasp of her body, but he’d already taken enough risks. Losing his control at the station—there were too many eyes in this place.
Both human, and as jerk-ass Niol had so recently pointed out, Other.
“Th-there’s something I have to tell you.” She stood, and the dress fell right back over her flesh.
Damn it.
He righted his clothes with a jerk. “I’m not apologizing for that.”
Her eyes narrowed for a second, then widened with understanding. “Good.”
He blinked.
She stepped away from him. “I-I should have told you this sooner.”
The sound of footsteps echoed in the hall.
Time was definitely almost up.
He caught sight of her panties on the floor. Scooped them up. Enjoyed the feel of the cool silk against his fingers. “We need to think of a cover story. All those cops saw what you did and—”
She waved a hand dismissively. “Most won’t remember.”
“What?”
“The human men won’t. The demons, well, they won’t care.”
“And the women?”
Frustration flashed across her face. “Tell them I hit the guy when we kissed.”
The footsteps were louder now. Closer.
“Tell them whatever you want! It doesn’t matter!” Her hands fisted. “But you have to know, there’s something I should have told you before.”
Now the woman wanted to make some kind of confession? And he’d always heard men were the ones with the piss-poor timing.
“Look, we need to—”
“I-I did something once. Crossed the line—that weak line between right and wrong.”
“What?”
Her eyes shifted back to blue as she stared at him. “I—ah, damn, this is hard.” Her shoulders straightened. “But you deserve to know.”
Oh, Jesus, what was the woman about to reveal? And why were his guts twisting into knots?
Because what she’s about to say is going to be bad, real bad.
It didn’t take psychic powers to figure that one out.
“Cara…”
A door slammed. Sounded like it was just a few feet away. Someone had to be in the small hallway now, heading straight for them.
“This can wait, when we’re someplace secure—”
“No! You have to hear this.” She grabbed his arm. “Todd, I-I’ve used my powers before, deliberately to hurt—”
“Cara…”
“To try to kill.”
The door to the interrogation room flew open. Todd turned to see Gyth standing in the doorway, and one look at those glittering eyes was all it took for Todd to know that his partner had just heard his lover’s confession.
Shit.
Chapter 14
“Not another word, baby, not without a lawyer.” Todd’s face was rock hard. His voice grim.
“No, you need to hear this.” Screw his partner. Todd deserved to know about her. All about her. When he’d touched her earlier, kissed her, it had been so much more than just sex.
Perhaps it had been from the beginning.
No more secrets, no more lies.
She was telling him everything. Her eyes slit as she frowned up at the shifter. “When I’m done, if you want to lock me up, that’s fine.” She’d be out in less than ten minutes once she got a guard under her spell, but he could sure try tossing her butt in jail, if that made the big, bad cop feel better.
Gyth gave a slow nod.
She caught Todd’s hands. Because she needed to touch him again. Because holding him made talking about the past easier. “I-I had a sister once. A twin.”
A dark look passed between the cops.
“We were close. Always close. But so different.” The memory of Nina made her lips curve. “She was dark where I was light. Wild when I was careful. And she knew me. The hidden parts of me that even I didn’t fully understand.”
Not identical, but they’d been a perfect match. Nina with her long, straight dark hair and her golden skin. The smile that had always lit her face and the eyes that had shined, with and without glamour.
“It’s hard to kill my kind.” Her fingers tightened around his. “Damn hard because I’m a demon, and even harder because I’m a succubus.” Not the run-of-the-mill demon blood. So few knew that dark secret.
But he’d known.
“Nina started seeing a human. She fell for him.” A pause. “I thought he cared for her.”
Todd swore, obviously knowing where her story was headed. Hell, of course. Not to a sweet, happily-ever-after ending.
Demons didn’t usually get those.
The shifter remained silent, watching her carefully.
“I felt it when she died,” she whispered. “It was like pain stabbed straight through my soul, and in my mind, I heard her scream.”
She could still hear it. Because in that last moment, her sister had cried out for her, helplessly, and Cara hadn’t been able to do a damn thing to save her.
She swallowed back the grief that wanted to choke her. Years had passed, but the wound was still fresh to her. “Her human killed her. The one she trusted, loved.”
Todd flinched.
And it was the shifter who asked, “How?”
It wasn’t a question she would normally answer, but these were far from normal circumstances. One of her kind was out there, killing, and the cops, well, they needed to know how to take the demon down.
“We heal fast,” she said, nodding her head toward Gyth. “Much like you do, I imagine.”
He said nothing.
“Gunshots, knife wounds—they’ll hurt us, but those weapons alone won’t kill a succubus or an incubus.” There was really only one moment when her kind became vulnerable. Her lips twisted as her gaze darted back to Todd. “I told you before, succubi believe that true power rests in the heart, not the mind.” Her power certainly did.
He gave a grim nod of his head.
She lifted her hand, touched his chest and felt the strong beat of his heart beneath her palm. “In that one moment when we take from others,” or give to them, but she wasn’t going to mention her ability to give power, not in front of that dangerous shifter, “we are at our most vulnerable.”
“Cara…”
“When I touch your heart,” her voice dropped, “That is the time, the only time, when I’m vulnerable.” When the power began to stir. That first moment, as the air thickened and magic fired her blood. Her hand never moved from his chest and her eyes held his.
“In that instant, a human’s weapons—guns, knives—they can kill my kind. A bullet in the heart. A knife. In that one moment, you can destroy a succubus or an incubus, forever.”
As her voice trailed away, silence filled the room. Thick, heavy. Far too tense.
Her hand dropped from his chest and Cara stepped back.
“If Susan was working with someone…”