Demons Not Included: A Night Tracker Novel (Night Tracker Novels) Page 11

  He spoke to me in the formal language of the Elves. “Would you wish for those you care about to weight themselves with your death, if you should move on to Summerland?”

  My blue hair slipped over my shoulders and covered my face as I bowed my head. “No,” I whispered as he squeezed my hands.

  He leaned forward and kissed the top of my head. “Then let us respect her memory by finding and destroying the master Demon that is responsible for all of this pain and suffering around us.”

  “You’re right.” I raised my chin. “I need to get out there and search for more of those monsters, find the one in charge, and destroy it.”

  “Not tonight.” He gripped my hands and kept me from standing. “You’ve drained your elemental powers, you’re injured, and you’re exhausted.” Rodán’s clear green eyes held mine. “I’ve moved Nadia from Rover duty and she’s now the Tracker for Caprice’s territory. I also took Dave from Rover duty to cover your territory. For tonight only.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “I can do it. I can go back out there,” I said, even as I felt my body protest and my elemental energies were barely there. It would take twenty hours or so before I regained my full powers again, and before I healed.

  Rodán just looked at me. I slumped in my chair. “I’ll go home.” But I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I couldn’t get the sight of Caprice’s remains or that child-Demon’s face out of my head. I didn’t think I ever would.

  T stood. “I have things to attend to.”

  I got to my feet, too, and started to leave. Rodán caught my hand. “I want to talk to you alone,” he said as T passed me and started up the stairs, his boot steps echoing in the stairwell.

  When it was completely silent, I looked into Rodán’s crystal green eyes. “What do you want to talk about?”

  He said nothing. He simply moved his mouth to mine and kissed me.

  CHAPTER 15

  Rodán’s kisses were deep and sensual, and I felt them throughout my being, as if warm hands caressed my entire body.

  I wanted to sink against him and let him hold me forever. And I wished I had the ability to cry. It wasn’t fair that I hadn’t inherited that part of my human half.

  When I was with him, gradually I could think of nothing but him. Not another worry, not another trouble, not even another person. I felt alive and comforted with Rodán.

  My injured body no longer felt pain. My injured mind was cleared. My injured heart was relieved of its agony.

  For now.

  I slid my fingers into his long white-blond hair, which felt light and thick at the same time, and I clasped my fingers behind his neck.

  He never pushed me. No, he seduced my senses with his light touch, his pleasant taste, his scent of cedar and mountain laurel. But he couldn’t have seduced me if I didn’t want it. Or if I didn’t need him.

  Like I needed him now.

  The sigh and moan that rose up in me was that of a woman giving herself to a man, a sound of need and want and desire. A woman who wanted to lose herself in the moment. To be soothed and cared for.

  Yes, I needed this. I needed to be held and loved and to know that there were good things in this world. Special things. And Rodán was special to me.

  A part of me felt I should be curled up alone at home, thinking about my friend.

  The other part of me wanted the comfort of being in Rodán’s arms and feeling loved. In our own way we did love one another. It was special, but it wasn’t the same as finding your mate.

  Rodán held me close to him and I felt like we’d fused together. My buckler pressed between us, but the ridge of his erection was big and comforting against me. Soon I’d have him inside me. I needed it like I’d never needed anything in my life.

  Goddess, my head was spinning. I purred, and found myself climbing him and wrapping my thighs around his hips, hooking my ankles behind him.

  When Rodán drew away he moved his lips to my ear and I purred louder. “Stay the rest of the night with me, my sweets.” He bit my earlobe. “I want to hold you. Make love to you.”

  I tilted my head back and sighed as he kissed and nipped the column of my throat ail the way to my collarbone. I clenched my fingers in his hair and slowly moved my hips so that my center rubbed against him. “Take me upstairs.”

  Rodán carried me as effortlessly and gently as he might carry a bouquet of fire orchids to the Elvin Queen.

  He must have used his magic to dim the room and light candles that flickered and danced in their crystal globes. No doubt that same magic was used to send a fresh burst of his room’s familiar scents of woodlands and firethorn, and I think something to further calm the storm that was inside me. Even the sounds of the forest filled the room to make it pleasant, relaxing, and imbued with life.

  Tomorrow was for storms. Tonight was for feeling alive with someone I cared for.

  He set me on my feet and slipped his hands into my hair, and buried his face in the blue strands.

  “You smell so good, always. Exotic, like lotus blossoms.”

  To each male, my Drow pheromones gave off a different scent. The human I’d slept with thought I wore orange blossom perfume. Until my hair turned blue.

  “Is it my pheromones that make you want me?” I said as I looked into those wonderful green eyes.

  “You know better than that.” He caressed the line of my jaw, his expression serious yet sensual “I want you because you are who you are. Wild and free, intelligent and dedicated, caring and loving. The male who captures your heart will be a lucky man indeed.”

  I looped my arms around his neck and pulled him toward me. I smiled against his lips. “You promised to make love to me,” I said before I kissed him.

  Another long, sweet kiss as his hands roamed my body in slow, erotic movements. My leather corset and pants were almost like wearing nothing at all. As if he was touching my bare skin.

  “Time to get rid of all of your weapons before you impale me,” he said as he parted his mouth from mine.

  I took one step back, moved my hands to my buckler, and unfastened my belt. Rodán took it from me and set the belt with ail of my weapons carefully and silently on the nightstand beside his bed.

  “You are so beautiful,” he said as he helped me remove one of my Elvin boots and then the other, before he set the pair aside. Now I stood barefoot on the warm, polished wood of his bedroom floor.

  Shadows danced on the walls from the light of the many candles. He smiled. “I might keep you in my bed always.”

  I gripped the hem of his tonic and raised it, and he helped me pull it over his head. “You would never be satisfied with one woman,” I said, which was true. Even one male wouldn’t be enough for him. He entertained both women and men in his bed, and he enjoyed both far too much to settle for a single mate.

  I ran my palms over his hairless chest and pinched his male nipples. He gave a deep rumble like a lion might. “I would be satisfied with only you.”

  This time I laughed. Softly, but it was a laugh. “Don’t delude yourself. Or tease me.”

  He tipped my chin up, and the candlelight flickered in his eyes in the near darkness. “If any one woman could satisfy me it would be you.”

  I reached between us and untied his breeches.

  “For tonight, as a part of our game, let’s pretend that’s true.”

  “Gladly.” Rodán kissed me again and helped me remove his breeches. I paused to look at his tail, muscular perfection. His eyes focused on me as I slammed my hands over his shoulders and pushed his long, white-blond hair away so that it hung down his back.

  My fight amethyst skin was so pale against his golden flesh. I used my fingers to trace his carved biceps, his smooth muscular chest, every bit of ripped abdomen—what humans considered an eightpack.

  Like other Elvin males, Rodán had no body or facial hair. I stroked the smooth area around his cock before running my fingers along the thick length of it and brushing my thumb over the slit at the top.

 
Rodán nipped my earlobe, then gave a low growl in my ear. “Not tonight, sweets. I think we both need joining more than anything else.”

  I started helping him take off my clothing. “More than I ever have.”

  He didn’t hurry as he removed my clothes, caressing my breasts and stopping only to lightly bite my nipples. I moaned and stroked his silky hair. He trailed his tongue between my breasts and down the center of my flat belly to my hairless mound. I couldn’t help the sound of frustration that burst from me as he only teased me with a flick of his tongue up the center of my slit.

  He gave a soft laugh that I don’t know if he really wanted me to hear. I had to clench my jaws together to keep from begging him for more as he finished taking off my leather pants before I stepped out of them. My folds were moist, my center wet, hot and aching to feel his thickness now.

  Rodán caught me by surprise when he scooped me up in his strong, muscular arms and gently laid me on his magnificent bed. The forest-green sheets were like satin beneath me, so soft and sleek against my skin. The woodland scent was even stronger now. Clean, refreshing, relaxing. And the hint of cedar was intoxicating and sensual.

  I watched him as he moved in slow, sensuous movements onto the bed. He pushed my thighs apart and I bent my knees before spreading myself wide for him.

  “I want to taste your sweetness.” He stroked my clit with one of his long, tapered fingers, and I hissed. My temples throbbed with the blood pounding through my system. “But I need to be inside you too much right now.”

  I smiled and held my arms out to him. “Come and let me feel your skin against mine.”

  He moved so that he was kneeling between my wide-open thighs. “You do know that I love you, Nyx.”

  “Yes.” I caught some of his long hair in my fists as our eyes met and held. “In the same way that I love you.”

  His expression filled me with sunshine and warmth. He braced himself above me, then shifted so that his cock was ready to enter my core.

  Rodán didn’t thrust hard or fast. He slid inside me in a long, erotic movement until he was buried deep.

  “Dear Goddess.” I tilted my head and arched my back. “The time for talking is over. It’s time for you to make love to me.”

  He gave a soft laugh when I lowered my gaze to look into his eyes. I loved the sound of his laugh. It was warm, deep. He drew his cock out, leaving me frustrated and wanting to take control.

  I raised my hips to meet his when he slid inside me again. “I thought Kelly and Fere would be the first Peacekeepers I did away with. Lulu, too,” I said as he kept up his slow, agonizing movements.

  “I might change my mind if you don’t pick things up a bit.”

  “You’re precious,” he said before he kissed my forehead. “Bringing you here to this Otherworld was the best thing I have ever done.”

  I arched my hips higher, urging him on. He picked up his pace, started to thrust instead of moving so agonizingly slow. His movements were smooth and fluid. They became faster and harder as I squirmed beneath him. I think he got the point and realized how much I had to have this with him.

  His long hair skimmed my face, my shoulders, my breasts, almost tickling me. I looked between us and saw his cock slide in and out of my core, and it sent more thrills through my belly just to see our bodies joined like this.

  When I raised my eyes, I met Rodán’s. “I love to watch you when I take you.” He smiled and kept up a firm, rapid pace. “Your skin has a soft sheen to it, and your sapphire hair looks so beautiful against my pillow. You’re equally beautiful when you’re human.”

  I didn’t have a chance to respond because he then thrust hard and started taking me in earnest.

  Rodán was a sensual lover, but a powerful one when he chose to be. He sensed that I needed this, needed to feel him deep with his rapid, sure strokes.

  My mind started to separate from my body. Seemed to float as if I wasn’t a part of myself anymore.

  Instead I was an entity that only felt, didn’t think. I was only aware of the feel of Rodán inside me, the feel of his cock sliding in and out.

  But more than anything, I was losing myself to the feelings, the sensations. My whole body warmed with them, and even my separate consciousness felt the warmth, the buildup of the orgasm, the rush of the climax coming toward me at a speed I’d never be able to control. In truth I had no desire to control anything.

  My conscious and my subconscious waited in anticipation, letting it build and build and build.

  I tried to hold back, to wait as long as possible, but Rodán reached between us and rubbed my clit.

  I was lost.

  There was no thinking, only feeling, with the orgasm that took me away, like a leaf rushing down a stream that joins a raging river.

  Vaguely I heard my throaty cries and felt my nails digging into Rodán’s buttocks. They were tight and hard as I clenched them. Having him beneath my fingers seemed to ground me, bring me back to the moment.

  My body continued to jerk and throb as Rodán thrust a few more times. He gave a sigh and a groan of pleasure and contentment as his cock pumped his semen inside me. I accepted all of him into my depths, welcoming him.

  When his cock no longer throbbed and the spasms in my core had subsided, Rodán kissed me with fierce intensity. He withdrew, and then rolled me onto my side before spooning himself to my back and holding me tightly around my waist with one of his powerful arms.

  “You won’t leave me alone, will you?” I murmured as I started to drift into sleep. “You’ll hold me, right?”

  He gave me loving kisses from my shoulder up to my neck and stopped with a final kiss beneath my ear. “Sleep now. sweets. I won’t leave until we wake together in the morning. I won’t let go until it’s time for us to face the day.”

  Face the day... There were so many things 1 had to face when the new day broke, but right now all I wanted to do was stay in my friend and lover’s arms and feel the comfort of someone who cared for me.

  CHAPTER 16

  Rodán woke me before dawn. I’d slept maybe two hours. Sleep blurred my eyes as I tried to focus on him. I started to feel like ice picks were stabbing my head as I gained a sense of self and where I was.

  “I’m sorry, Nyx.” Rodán wore an oak-brown tunic and breeches, and was sitting on the edge of the bed. “Another liaison’s home was attacked, and the liaison is missing. I need you and Olivia at the crime scene.”

  “Another?” I snapped fully awake.

  Rodán took my hand and helped me climb off of his bed before he handed me my leather corset and pants. “You’ll have just enough time to get home and change into your day clothing.”

  And day appearance.

  I shimmied into my pants and pulled on my corset. “A Soothsayer’s already on the job?”

  “The scene is frozen, damage control handled,” he said as I pulled on each boot.

  My weapons belt seemed heavier as I buckled it. Damage control. Must have had a lot of attention already.

  I gave Rodán a quick kiss before hurrying out of his chambers, already pulling out my XPhone to call Olivia before the door closed behind me.

  The sound of rain pounded on what was left of the roof of the police officer’s home near Fiftyeighth Street and Fifth Avenue, not far from where Caprice had been murdered. Dripping noises echoed throughout the otherwise quiet house as I walked next to Adam and Olivia, and surveyed the scene that Lulu had frozen.

  With Caprice’s death so fresh in my mind and heart, I had to make the extra effort to put on my PI hat and concentrate on what I was here for.

  The home had been destroyed, no bodies found. The house had the stench of burned sugar, like the liaison’s home yesterday.

  Adam had found another symbol scorched into the floor.

  “It looks like Officer Jaworski might be missing,” Adam said as we searched the house for other clues. “We don’t really know that, but so far we haven’t been able to find him in this wreck.” He looked at Lul
u. “Before the freezing thing was done.”

  My stomach twisted with a measure of guilt as I thought about spending last night in Rodán’s bed, and here I was next to the man I wanted for far more than a friend.

  Those thoughts just added to so many others bouncing around in my mind. I could almost hear the pinging sound of them hitting the inside of my skull.

  I reached out with my weakened senses as I walked through a doorway with holes smashed into the wall to either side of it. Even mostly drained of my power from last night’s battle, I knew the liaison had been here but was now gone. “The humans won’t realize it until they’ve done every search they can,” I said after a moment, “but I already know he’s not here.”

  “Shit,” Adam said as he walked beside me.

  My gut clenched. “Yeah.”

  “I’m going to check out the dining room.” Olivia paused, put her hand on my arm, and then spoke so only I could hear. “Are you okay?”

  “Don’t worry.” I gave a halfhearted smile before I said, louder, “Just get your ass busy and do your half of the job.”

  She patted her rear. “You can kiss this ass, girl,” she said, then left to do her own searching.

  “B—” I had to stop myself from calling out “bitch” after her. Adam probably wouldn’t get it. It’s a girl thing.

  I hadn’t told Adam about Caprice yet. I just couldn’t get the words out, like it would make it all that much more real. He’d met her in my office once, but I wasn’t sure he’d remember her. Caprice was hard to forget, though.

  “So where’s that guy who came with you last time?” Adam brought my attention back to the moment. I looked at him, with his short brown hair and beautiful brown eyes, and I knew it was time to tell Adam the truth. I just had to get the guts to do it. “Torin—is that a last name?” he was saying.

  I looked at the gaping holes in the beige living room walls. “That’s all I’ve heard him called by.” I hefted my purse up higher over my shoulder and felt the weight of my dagger. I wondered why T hadn’t shown up at the office this morning when I met up with Olivia. Rodán must not have been able to reach him. Come to think of it, I had no idea how to get a hold of T.