Lili stopped. “In the main kefefr laat, of course. That’s where all the Demon Lords and demonesses eat.”
“What’s a kay-fay-frea lay-at?” Ray asked.
“It’s the main dining room. We have four meals a day there. Each feast is a very elaborate event.”
“Is your food always… alive?” I asked, wondering if I really wanted to know. “From what I’ve seen, demons prefer to have their meals wiggle and fight.”
“Yes,” she said. “We prefer our food breathing, but we do… mix it up on occasion. Freezing the main course and letting it thaw just before we partake of it is a recent favorite.”
I shivered. That was just plain gross.
“That’s fairly disgusting,” Tyler commented, not having to read my mind on that one. “Even in my wolf form, I make a clean kill before I eat.”
“We are… not like you, if you haven’t noticed,” she said. “It took me time to adjust to it too, but my demon side takes great joy in food that… puts up a struggle.” Her pupils elongated, radiating her pleasure. “It’s an acquired taste.”
“Well, it’s one that none of us will be acquiring any time soon,” I finished.
We continued down a long hallway with a beautiful bowed white ceiling, and at the end was another elaborate door.
Lili pushed it open without incident. “This is where the Prince conducts his business while he is home. Do not touch any of the buttons on the desk if you do not wish for company.” She went across to the far wall and pressed a lever, and a sheet of material cascaded down one wall. She turned back to us. “There you go. No prying eyes. Once this is down there can be no surveillance.”
Rourke strode immediately to the Prince’s desk, fingering all the notes and books piled there. “I know the Prince will have specific demon law books as well as High Law books that cover the rights of all supernaturals. If the Prince of Hell is also the judge and jury of the Underworld then he must have access to all information and I want to see it.”
Lili walked behind the desk and opened a large cutout in the wall to expose row after row of orderly books. “You are welcome to look here, but all these demon books are written in Demonish. I doubt you know the language well enough to read it.”
Rourke grunted his response.
All the books were adorned with strange characters on the spines, like hieroglyphics.
“If he has High Law books,” Tyler stated from the doorway, “they will be footnoted in English as well as all the popular European languages.”
Tyler and I only spoke English, since we’d been raised in America and we were very young on the supernatural age scale. I had no idea how many languages Rourke spoke, but my guess was many.
“I know some Demonish phrases,” Rourke said. “But of course the written language will be a challenge. But the demons have close ties with the Shamans of the East, correct? They worship the Underworld and speak many European languages. I know a lot of those.”
Lili appraised my mate with a calculated gaze. “Yes, the Shamans do have a strong connection to the Underworld. Unfortunately, they are not involved in any of our laws. We use them for… ceremonies.”
I followed Lili and Rourke behind the desk and sat down in the chair. It was ridged and cool. “There has to be something here we can work with, Lili. We need information, specifically about the Scriptures.”
Lili strode back to the entryway where Tyler stood. Ray and Selene had stayed outside the office. I could hear them bickering about something in the hallway. “I will check the other rooms and see what I can find.”
I nodded toward Tyler. “Go with her and see if you can come up with anything.” Watch her like a hawk, I said. Something’s up.
I’m on it. He turned and followed her out, closing the office door behind him.
I swiveled in the chair and met Rourke’s heated gaze. It was the first time we’d been alone since he’d arrived. Shivers raced up my spine and a calm heat spread over my entire body.
Instead of speaking, he simply extended his hand.
I took it and energy immediately zinged up my arm in a delicious current. He tugged me out of the chair with a gentle pull and led me back around the desk toward a door I hadn’t noticed before. It wasn’t one of those concealed cutout doors, but looked like a regular working door.
“Before we continue our investigation, I need you to help me clean this crap off,” he said, grinning like a cat with a canary. He had a point, as he was still covered in dried blood from the orthrus.
We reached the door and he turned the knob. It gave easily. He swung it wide.
To reveal the biggest bathroom I’d ever seen.
20
“How’d you know there was a bathroom here, you tricky beast?” I laughed.
“I didn’t.” He chuckled. “I was actually hoping it was a bedroom.”
Before I could respond he had me pressed up against the doorjamb, mouth slanted over mine. It was a needy kiss and I responded in kind, my tongue delving deeply into his mouth, matching him stroke for stroke.
His hands slid down my body, electrifying everything along their way. He broke the kiss with a growl and ran his delicious blond stubble along my jaw and down my neck. “My beast went crazy without you,” he whispered. “I couldn’t think. I couldn’t function. I craved your smell. I needed to have it back inside me. You make me totally irrational”—his voice was low—“and I like it that way. You’re not allowed to take off without me again. Do you hear me?”
I shivered. “I—” His tongue found its way to the hollow of my neck and as it licked, a small sound erupted from the back of my throat. “—I… promise.”
He shook his head as he gazed up at me, his eyes slightly unfocused. “I realized something huge when you left.” His irises radiated their emotion like tiny prisms of the most beautiful emerald. “I can’t take a backseat where you’re involved. We’re either in this together—as a team—or it doesn’t happen. My beast can’t stand it and neither can I.” He ran his tongue up my jaw, stopping a hairbreadth from my lips. “Deal?” he purred.
With his passion and love pressed against me, my wolf howling in pleasure, there was no way I could say no. He was right. This was where we needed to be. We were a team, bonded together in the most primal way possible. I gazed up at him, knowing my eyes were full of the same emotions, a kaleidoscope of violet. “Deal,” I whispered.