There was no mistaking the heat banked behind those long lashes, and Lena’s breath caught. No male had ever looked at her the way Nate did, and she liked it.
Con, however, did not. He went taut, as if preparing to defend her, his silver eyes flashing like razor blades, but quickly, she put herself between them with a casual smile and took Con’s forearm.
“I’ll walk you out,” she said cheerily. “It was nice of you to stop by. Tell Eidolon I’ll consider his offer.”
A barely audible rumble sounded behind her, and a tingle of pleasure skittered over her skin at the possessive quality of Nate’s growl. Even if he only wanted her for the club, it was nice to be valued. Oh, she knew that UG valued her, but here she had fewer supervisors and more autonomy. It was . . . cool.
Remember why you’re here, idiot. Vaughn is dead. Right. Talk about a cold splash of water.
Con stopped at the doorway. “It’s okay, Lena. I can find my own way out.” His gaze shifted to Nate, and he bared his fangs before returning to her. “Just take care of yourself. If you need anything—” once again, he gave Nate the you’re-dead-if-you-harm-her look “—anything at all, you know to call.”
“I know.” She went up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. “And thank you.”
Con strode away, and when she turned back to Nate, once again, her breath was stolen from her lungs. Dressed in faded jeans and a navy T-shirt that clung to every sculpted muscle like shrink-wrap, he stood next to the exam table, his black mane cascading down his back and around his shoulders in a shimmering waterfall, his big body vibrating with lethal power. He was . . . magnificent.
“Is he your lover?” Nate’s voice was deep, husky, and she shivered with feminine appreciation.
“Hardly. He’s mated to my boss’s sister.”
“I’m your boss.”
Damn. Nice screw-up. “Of course you are. It’s just that I worked there for a long time, and it’s hard to get used to the fact that I’m not there anymore.”
He didn’t look convinced, but he said nothing. Instead, in brutal, heart-pounding silence, he strode to the door and closed it.
The click of the lock was the loudest sound she’d ever heard, and she actually jumped like a twitchy rabbit.
Riveted by curiosity and the mere sight of him, she watched as he wheeled around and closed the distance between them. As he looked down at her, his expression was a curious mix of hunger and regret that she didn’t understand.
“Now,” he said softly, “we finish what we started in my office.”
Nate was f**king lit. The time he’d spent in the jungle at the site of the new fight club had worked him into a knot of nerves and need. He’d long ago determined that the more primitive the environment, the more his baser instincts surfaced.
It didn’t get more primitive than the South American rain forest.
Thanks to the make-out session in his office with Vladlena before he left, he’d already been coming out of his skin, but then the trip to the steamy jungle jacked him up even more. Standing beneath ancient trees, on soil touched only by beasts as he inhaled the clean, unpolluted air that smelled of rain, plants, and a jaguar that had passed recently, had made him vibrate with pure, animal desire. He’d wanted to hunt, to feed, to mate.
He’d understood the moment he’d set foot on the site why Fade had chosen it. There was an elemental power at play there, and no underworld creature would be able to resist it. A gladiatorial arena placed on the soil would become the demon equivalent of the Roman Colosseum, and with the blood sacrifice to bind evil to it . . . it was conceivable that the land could be claimed in the name of Sheoul—or hell, as humans called it.
The very idea was horrifying, but right now Nate was having trouble concentrating on anything but the female in front of him. He was so aroused, so on fire that he expected to see smoke from the friction of his clothes on his skin. Finding her with that a**hole vampire, their relationship so familiar, hadn’t helped. Nate had wanted to destroy the male, deliver his fangs to Vladlena on a necklace, and then rut with her on the very ground where he’d won the battle.
And wasn’t that sexy. He nearly rolled his eyes. Damned jungle had turned him into a caveman.
Running with the caveman thing . . . he got all testosterone-buzzed at the sight of her wearing his gift. It might be a mere stethoscope, but she’d accepted his offering, and for some reason, it made him want to beat his chest and drag her into his lair. Instead, because a sliver of civility had pierced through the jungle haze, he gripped her shoulders and pushed her against the wall. She didn’t protest. Not that he expected her to; the scent of her desire filled the room with her special perfume, ratcheting up his need even more.
But ultimately, this wasn’t about his desperation to get between those toned thighs. This was about saving her from an excruciating death on an altar—a death he was tasked to be responsible for.
No, he couldn’t profess that he didn’t want this for himself—he’d been unnaturally obsessed with Lena since she walked into his office. Even her virginity should have been a turnoff. He’d avoided virgins like their veins ran with holy water instead of blood. But in Lena’s case . . . damn. A purr vibrated his chest at the thought of being her first, of laying claim to her the way no other male had.
Of taking her for his own and keeping her.
Except that couldn’t happen. This would be a one-time thing, because if Fade even suspected that Nate wanted her, she was dead.
Or worse, if Fade found out that Nate had been the one to take her virginity. And Nate was well aware that there could be worse.
Shoving that thought out of his mind, he cupped the back of her head and lowered his mouth to hers. Again, she didn’t fight him. In fact, she opened for him, her hands coming down on his ass to pull him closer. He was already hard—hell, he’d been hard for days—and her soft belly cradled his aching erection with just enough pressure to be considered torture.
Man, he wished he could take his time with her, could ease her into her first time, but the clock was ticking, and when this particular hourglass ran out, so would her life.
Inhaling raggedly, he palmed her fine ass and lifted her so her legs were around his waist and his c*ck was in contact with her core. They both groaned at the sensation, and as he slid her up and down while rocking into her, her groan turned into a soft cry of pleasure. He spun toward the exam table, because while he couldn’t seduce her properly in a soft bed, he could at least make sure her first time wasn’t against a wall or on the floor.
“Need to be inside you,” he murmured against her lips. “Need to make you scream my name.”
“Yes,” she breathed. Her back arched, and her hot center rubbed him so perfectly, so sweetly, he damn near came right then and there. “Wait . . .” In his arms, she stiffened. “No. I can’t.”
“You don’t have any patience.” He nipped her jaw, then licked the tender skin there. He couldn’t wait to be at her throat, taking her inside him as he moved inside her.
Her palms flattened against his chest, and before he could put her on the table, she writhed hard enough to make him lose his grip, and her feet hit the floor. “I’m not ha**ng s*x with you.”
“Yes,” he said roughly, “you are.”
He seized her by the waist and hauled her against him, one hand going to her scrub bottoms’ drawstring. The storm of lust gathering inside him intensified, a raging force of nature fueled by the residual stir of the jungle, unquenched thirst for Lena, and a carnal instinct to possess the female he’d had in his sights for days.
Lightning fast, she hauled off and slapped him. “Release me.” She didn’t wait for him to obey. With a surprisingly vicious stomp on his foot, she threw herself backwards, crashing into the supply tray and knocking metal instruments everywhere.
She didn’t get far. “Dammit, woman!” He caught her around the torso and pinned her between his body and a cabinet.
Son of a bitch. This couldn’t have gone worse, but it was too late to turn on the charm, and he knew it. He’d never forced a female in his life, and he wouldn’t cross that line now. But he’d do what he had to in order to save her life. Steeling himself for her response to what was going to be the most dickheaded thing he’d ever said or done, he wrapped his fingers around her throat and bared his fangs.
“You’ll sleep with me, or you’re fired.”
Her throat convulsed beneath his fingers and her eyes shot wide open. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Fuck or flee. Your choice.”
She began to tremble, and gods, he felt like a bastard. “You . . . a**hole.”
“Guess that’s your answer.” He released her and stepped back. “Pack your shit, turn in your uniform, and never come back to this place. Do you understand me, Lena? Never, ever return.” He wheeled around and yanked open the door, stopping when a miscellany of medical supplies pelted his back.
“Go to hell, Nathan.” She beaned him with her stethoscope, which fell to the floor next to his feet, sprawled like a dead snake. “Go. To. Hell.”
Not a problem, he thought, as he exited the office. He was already there.
Chapter 8
Vladlena stood in the medical office like a dolt, stunned to the core. Dangling from her fingers were the set of keys she’d lifted off Nate when she’d realized what he wanted from her and how serious he was about getting it.
What didn’t sit well with her was the sickening knowledge that had she been able to have sex with him, she would have. He wouldn’t even have had to threaten her. She’d have been his for the taking.
Gods, she was an idiot.
She looked around at the supplies scattered on the floor, some of them a result of her clumsiness, some from hurling them at Nate. How could he have turned into such a coldhearted bastard like that? The answer smacked her upside the head with a big, fat, duh-stick. What else had she expected from someone who was most likely pitting fighters against each other in death matches?