Dark Beginnings: The Darkest Fire / The Darkest Prison / The Darkest Angel. Gena Showalter

“I would never lie to you. And I do like you. You are beautiful and strong, the finest thing I have ever known.”

      “You think me beautiful? Strong?” Pleasure lit her expression. “Then why won’t you kiss me?”

      Yes, you fool. What reasons do you have now? “I will hurt you.” Oh. Why hadn’t he thought of that before? It was irrefutable. And the only guarantee he would keep his lips to himself.

      Her face scrunched adorably in her confusion. “I don’t understand. You’ve never hurt me before.”

      “My teeth…they are too sharp.” He didn’t add that his hands were too toxic, his strength too mighty. Were he to lose control of himself and squeeze her, which was a possibility considering how much he desired her, she would be hurt. Scared, too. Perhaps even irreparably damaged.

      “I’m willing to risk it,” she said, placing her palms on his thighs and burning him soul-deep.

      He both hated and loved his half-armor at that moment. Hated because it kept him from skin-to-fur contact. Loved because it blocked her gaze from parts of his monstrous form.

      “Why?” What reason could she possibly have for wanting to place her luscious lips on something so disgusting? Mere curiosity would not drive a female to such an act. Evangeline had vomited the moment she’d first spied his changed appearance. “I could tolerate what you were, but I cannot tolerate…this,” she’d thrown at him.

      “Because.” Twin pink circles painted Kadence’s cheeks, but she didn’t turn her gaze.

      “Why?” he insisted. He placed his hands atop hers. Gulped at the headiness, the silkiness.

      “You saved me.”

      So she was grateful. Exactly as he had suspected—and had not wanted. His shoulders sagged in disappointment. Did you truly expect her to desire you? No, he hadn’t expected it—but he had hoped. “It would be dishonorable to kiss you for such a reason.”

      “But I owe you.”

      “No. I release you from that vow.” Foolish again!

      “Fine.” Though she remained on her knees, she rose until they were merely a whisper apart. “Do it because I’m desperate, needy. Do it because I’ve suddenly realized how quickly something can be taken from me, and I wish to know some part of you before I’m—”

      “Before you’re…” he managed to choke out. She was desperate? Needy? For him?

      “Do it,” she pleaded.

      Yes. Yes. Geryon could no longer resist, dishonorable or not. Risk or not. He would be careful, he vowed. So careful. He could not resist her. Would not resist her.

      He bent the rest of the way, softly pressing his mouth against hers. Exquisite. She didn’t pull away. She gasped, lips parting, and he swept his tongue inside. Her taste…so sweet, like a snowstorm after a millennium of fire. Beyond exquisite.

      “More,” she said. “Deeper. Harder.”

      “Sure?” Please, please, please.

      “More than I’ve ever been.”

      Thank the gods. Centuries had passed since he’d kissed a woman and never while in this form, but he began thrusting his tongue against hers, rolling them together, retreating, then going back for more. When he felt his teeth scrape hers, he stiffened. And when she moaned, he tried to pull away. But her arms slid up his chest, one anchoring around his neck, the other caressing a horn. He had to grip his thighs, nails sinking deep, to keep his claws off her.

      “Like?” she asked.

      “Yes,” he managed to grit out.

      “Good. Me, too.” Her lush breasts pressed into his chest, her nipples hard and searching.

      She truly enjoyed his kiss? Tremors rocked him, their tongues beginning another dance, his muscles tightening against the strain of remaining exactly as he was. With every moment that passed, every breathy sound that emerged from her, his control snapped a little more. He yearned to toss her down, climb atop her and pound, pound so hard he would brand himself on every inch of her. Inside every cell.

      More, more, more. He had to have more. Had to have all.

      Had already given all.

      The realization rocked him. “Stop,” he finally said. “We must stop.” He jerked to his feet, away from her, already mourning the loss of her taste. Shaking. He kept his back to her, panting, his heart racing.

      “Did I do something wrong?” she asked softly, and there was a catch in her voice.

      Oh, yes. You stole a heart I could not afford to give. He’d promised never to lie to her, however, so he merely said, “Come. We have waited long enough. We have demons to hunt.”

       CHAPTER THIRTEEN

      THEY STOPPED AT THE FIRST building they came to: a tavern. An actual, honest-to-gods tavern, where blood was served rather than alcohol and body parts were the snacks. Kadence had known such things existed down here, but it still struck her as odd. Demons, acting as humans. In their eerie way.

      She and Geryon had had a two-mile trek from the pit’s entrance to here. A two-mile trek she had spent remembering his earth-shattering kiss, cursing him for stopping it and fretting about his reasons for doing so.

      Throughout her endless life, she had welcomed only those three lovers into her bed, and all three had been gods. If gods had not been able to handle her, there was no way Geryon could. But she had hoped. For once, during that too-short span, she’d had no thoughts of controlling her nature, only enjoying. Oh, had she enjoyed. His taste was divine, his tongue hot and wet, his body a work of art and muscle. So badly she had wanted him to touch her. To strip her and penetrate her. To claim her.

      Yet Geryon had walked away from her, just as the others had.

       Am I so terrible? So horrible a person?

      More than the others, she had wanted Geryon to find pleasure with her because he meant more. She liked who she was with him. Liked how she felt when he was near. Worthy. Precious. Instead, she had…disgusted him? Repelled him? Failed to arouse him in even the slightest way?

      “Stay by my side,” he said as he shoved open the tavern’s swinging double doors. They were the first words he had uttered since reminding her of their quest. “And keep your hood over your head. Just in case. Actually, are you versed in glamour?”

      His voice was deep and rough and caressed every one of her weeping senses. Surely she did not disgust him. Surely she did not repel him. He had held himself back during their kiss, had stopped it, but when he looked at her, he made her feel as if she were the only woman in the world. The most beautiful, the most desired.

      He paused before entering. “Kadence?” Cleared his throat. “Goddess?”

      “I will glamour myself and stay by your side,” she told him, though inside she beseeched, Tell me why you continually push me away. She only wanted to draw closer.

      He didn’t, of course. He nodded and stepped forward. She stayed close, as promised, mentally projecting the image of bones and scales. Anyone who glanced in her direction would think they saw one of their own. She could only hope her fear was masked as well. They would not hesitate to devour one of their own.

      Taunting laughter and pain-filled cries immediately assaulted her ears. Gulping, she sent her gaze around the room. So many demons…they came in every shape and size. Some were like the image she projected, bones and scales. Some were half man, half bull. Some were winged like dragons with snouts to match. Yet all of them crowded a stone slab. A moving slab?

      No, not moving, she realized, horror claiming her in a bruising grip and nearly crushing her lungs. Human spirits were atop the slab. The demons