So much time wasted, she thought, as she opened her mouth against the back of his neck. His skin tasted like salt and man, smelled like leather and spice. He groaned when she nipped him near a puckered scar and then soothed the spot with a lap of her tongue.

“Why the scars?” she asked, as she trailed her finger over a thin line. “Don’t you heal completely?”

“They’re from injuries before my curse.”

She kissed one. Then another. “Touch yourself,” she murmured against his skin, and he groaned again, his head falling back as the flex of muscles in his right biceps told her he’d obeyed. She pictured his big hand around his shaft, wondered if he liked to take long, slow strokes, or shorter ones that concentrated near the head. Well, she’d find out in a minute. First, she had some touching of her own to do.

Her heart raced, thudding so hard in her chest that she suspected Ares could feel it on his spine. Heat radiated from him, scorching her skin and making her burn all the way to her core. She smoothed her hands down his arms, loving the contraction of his muscles as he stroked his erection. The bed creaked as she scooted back a couple of inches so she could slide her hands down his back, and again, the roll of his firm flesh as he worked himself was a thing of beauty.

When her palms cupped his buttocks, he let out an erotic growl that sent a rush of liquid heat between her legs.

“You’re ready for me.” His voice was guttural, sexy, and she grew even wetter.

She licked between his shoulder blades. “How do you know?”

“My mother was a sex demon. I’m attuned to desire.”

Why had he not mentioned the desire thing before? How many sensual tricks did he have up his sleeve from that kind of inheritance? Oh, her imagination could go wild.

She shifted, letting her tongue trail down Ares’s spine, all the while enjoying the way his breathing grew more shallow the lower she went and the more deeply she kneaded the incredibly firm muscles of his butt and thighs. When her mouth reached the small of his back, he tensed. And when she planted an open-mouthed kiss on his right ass-cheek, he froze up completely.

“Woman, what are you doing?”

“Biting you.” She sank her teeth into the place she’d kissed, and the sound that came out of him, a cross between a purr and a growl, punctuated by a gasp, made her shiver in delight. “What? No one has bitten your ass before?”

“I’ll admit it’s a first.”

“Turn around.”

He did, and because she was still on her hands and knees, she came eye level with his enormous erection. The tip glistened with a crystal bead, and without thinking, she licked it away.

Ares’s entire body undulated, a spectacular arch of sinewy lines. She met his heavy-lidded gaze as she opened her mouth over the head of him, and then she closed her eyes and her lips, and savored his bold, smoky essence. His hands came up to tangle in her hair, his fingers sliding over her scalp as she sucked him deep and found a rhythm that soon had him pumping his hips. More… she needed more. Sliding her mouth up, she applied powerful suction at the cap, then swirled her tongue in smaller circles, moving from the rim to the weeping slit at the tip.

“Jesus, Cara,” he gasped, his abs and thighs visibly tightening.

Smiling, she cupped his sac and lightly bounced his balls with her fingers, separating them, caressing them, and when she licked her way down his shaft and took his sac in her mouth, he shouted, grabbed his cock, and squeezed.

“Not. Yet.” He panted hard. “So humiliating.”

“Flattering.”

She looked up, and no longer was his gaze heavy, lazy, dark. Now it burned with raw hunger, and it was her turn to gasp as he swept her up and threw her onto her back. “You make me insane, Cara.” He mounted her, put himself between her legs so his shaft rubbed in her slick heat. His lips met hers in a kiss that was exquisitely gentle, despite the fierceness in his eyes. “I wish we had more time—”

“Shh.” She framed his face in her hands, stilling him and putting every drop of intensity she had behind her stare. “There will be nothing but passion in this bed.”

“And I swear on my father’s name and his holy spirit that there will never be another in this bed,” he ground out, and as tears sprang to her eyes, he dipped his head and took her breast in his mouth.

Instantly, the fire kindled again, roaring to the surface. She cried out and sank her nails into his back. God, that felt good. She tilted her hips, eager to have him inside her to ease the ache he’d sparked in her, but he backed up, denying her satisfaction.

She wanted to scream, but then he cupped her intimately, sliding one finger through her folds with maddeningly light strokes as he kissed his way down her belly. When he reared back to look at her… look at her there… she nearly closed up and covered herself. But now wasn’t the time to be shy. Now was her last chance to be powerful. Beautiful. Seductive.

So she spread her thighs as wide as they would go, and her reward was his utter reverence. “So beautiful,” he murmured.

And then he dove between her legs. His hands lifted her butt, his thumbs spread her folds, and his mouth captured her. Erotic pleasure swelled inside her until her skin grew tight with the pressure. Ares’s tongue was magic, a hot, slippery wand that he swept up one side of her sex and down the other, sometimes using the entire flat surface to create broad strokes, sometimes focusing sensation with the firm tip.

“You taste… so… good.” He flicked his tongue against her clit, and the orgasm that had been simmering just beneath the surface began to boil. “God, Cara…” His tongue pushed inside her, and her breath caught as she tried to hold back the detonation. She fisted the sheets, tugged at them, but all that did was give her leverage so she could pump against his mouth, pushing his tongue deeper, and when he smoothed it in circles inside her core…

Her body boiled over. The cl**ax spiraled out of control, turned into a shattering, blinding ecstasy that went on and on. She felt him sucking on her, heard him moaning as he swallowed, and just as she began to come down, he mounted her. His thick length filled her, and she came again, locking her legs tight around his waist.

“That’s it,” he whispered against her throat. “Ride me, sweetheart. Ride me hard.”

There had never been another option. She was caught up in a maelstrom of raw, animal lust and pure, soul-mending love, and for the first time in her life, she felt it all come together, as if she was finally whole. Finally happy with who and what she was, and had found the man who complemented her.

They rocked together, their bodies slapping as he pounded into her and she arched up to meet every impact. Sweat glistened on his skin, creating even more contrast and texture in the hills and valleys of his muscles, and when he threw his head back, teeth bared, tendons straining, the sight blew her last circuit. The most intense orgasm of her life tore through her with such power that she bucked her entire body off the mattress. Ares’s arm went around her and pulled her up so he was sitting back on his heels and she was perched on his thighs, screaming as the pleasure popped along every nerve ending.

His roar of release joined hers, his hot s**en splashing inside her and turning her orgasm into a fiery, stinging ecstasy that bordered on pain. Beneath her, Ares jerked, his muscles twitching, his breath coming in halting gasps. His pelvis continued to pump upward, though his movements were weak, uncontrolled, and after a few seconds, he fell forward with her, twisting so she wouldn’t have to bear the bulk of his weight.

They lay like that, breathing heavy, sweating, trembling, for a long time. This should be the point where they drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms or engaged in pillow talk, but instead, a terrible tension grew between them.

It was time, and there was no sense putting it off. Not when she could feel the energy Shade had given her seep away now that the sexual hunger had been sated.

“Ares?”

He squeezed her so tight she could barely breathe. “No.”

For some reason, that made her smile. Then she reached across him to the dagger he’d set on the bedside table. It felt oddly warm in her hand. Seemed like it should be cold.

Carefully, she pushed against him, and he slid out of her, leaving her feeling empty. He propped himself up on one elbow and looked down at her, the expression on his handsome face laden with tragedy. “There’s so much to say.” His voice was halting, broken. Like her heart. “And yet…”

“And yet, what can be said?”

“Yeah.”

Poor Hal. At least this was going to be a quick end for him, much better than being torn apart in a pit.

She put the tip of the dagger against her breastbone, took his hand, and placed it around the hilt. Then she wrapped her hands around his. They both shook as he moved the blade to the left, just under the swell of her breast, clearly knowing exactly where to shove it through to make the fastest, most lethal strike.

“Now,” she said.

He gave a single, sharp nod, and his hand tightened beneath hers. “Now.”

Twenty-four

Now didn’t always mean now.

How could Ares possibly do this? If Hal was reasonably healthy, Cara could suffer for a long time as his energy poured into her, keeping her heart beating even around the dagger’s sharp blade. The pain would be excruciating.

His chest constricted. “I can’t,” he rasped. What if Kynan was wrong?

“You have to. You know you do.” She tightened her grip around his, steadying it. How ironic was it that he was the battle-hardened warrior, part demon, part ruthless angel, and his hand was shaking, yet Cara, a mere human, was steady as a rock.

No, there was nothing mere about her.

They’d found each other too late. Way too late.

“We could wait. Just a little longer.”

Her sad smile made his eyes sting. “You know we can’t. I can feel myself getting weaker. Hal is getting weaker. I could fade away at any minute, and then where would you be?”

Evil. He’d be evil. And not long after that, his brother and sister would be just as monstrous, and the end of days would be upon the human world. He knew that, and yet, he wanted every extra second with Cara that he could get. “I’ll take you back to the hospital, and Shade can keep you alive for a little while longer.”

“I don’t want to live like that. In a bed, with some strange demon channeling energy into me? That’s not life, and you know it.” She pressed the tip of the knife into her skin, and a trickle of blood dripped down her rib cage. “Do it.”

Ares was an expert at this. Had this been anyone else, he could shove the blade home and the victim would be dead before he knew what hit him.

But Cara would know. She would suffer. And he’d have to watch, knowing he’d caused it. Knowing he could do nothing about it.

Rearing up, he released the dagger. “Not yet. I can’t. I can’t do it. I need… a minute.”

“Ares!”

In a near panic, he scrambled off the bed, opened the door, and fled out into the hall. Didn’t matter that he was na**d—he had no hang-ups, and his staff had seen him nude often enough. He heard thumping around in the bedroom, heard the telltale sounds of clothes ruffling. Cara was going to come after him. Dammit. He strode into the great room, cursing the return of the senses that tuned him in to global strife, and turned to the fireplace. It wasn’t lit, was cold and empty, like his chest cavity.

The empty feeling was nothing new, given that it had been that way his entire life. Hell, even when he’d had a family, had believed he was human, there had been something missing. And then Cara came into his life, and the cavern inside him had filled up. So he supposed it made sense that the sensation of emptiness was now so much more pronounced. Before, it had been normal. But now he knew what being warm felt like, and he was no longer used to the cold.

“Ares.” Cara’s voice was soft behind him. As she moved closer, all those battle vibrations melted away, and instead of feeling as if he wasn’t whole without them… he felt at peace. The realization struck him like a blow. When he was with her, he didn’t lose abilities… he gained peace.

How was he going to survive without her?

He didn’t move as she padded up to him and plastered her body against his back, wrapping her arms around his waist. She’d brought him a towel, which she draped over his hips, and he would have smiled at her thoughtfulness if he wasn’t on the verge of breaking down.

Her cheek rested on his shoulder blade, and her hot breath fanned over his skin.

This was so right. So terribly right. And it was all going to be gone soon.

“My lord?”

“What, Vulgrim?” His voice was harsher than he intended, but he had only minutes left with Cara, and he didn’t want one second taken from him.

“An Aegi is here to see you. He says he may have a cure for Cara.”

Afraid to hope, but his heart doing a backflip all the same, Ares wrapped the towel around his waist. With more calm than he felt, he turned, tucking Cara behind him. Vulgrim moved aside to reveal a man flanked by two of his guards.

“This is highly unusual,” Ares said. “Who are you… wait… I saw you outside the Yorkshire headquarters.”

The man nodded. “My name is David. Kynan and Arik were busy, so they sent me.”

“Sent you? Why?” His eyes narrowed. “How did you get here?”

“Reaver.” David opened his fist, and the Ramreels on either side of him reached for their weapons. He gulped, and very slowly held out his palm. “We found this in our archives. It was in a box marked with the agimortus symbol. We think that the agimortus can be transferred to this device and contained.”