Chapter 12
You’re going to need sex. And you’ll need it from me.
Scotty’s words rang through her ears in a loop she couldn’t stop. For three hours, they’d searched for an exit, and it didn’t matter if they were scaling treacherous inclines or crawling through claustrophobically narrow tunnels, her thoughts kept turning to the what-ifs.
What if they really had to do it? What if she hated it? Worse…what if she loved it?
Frustrated by the direction of her thoughts and the fact that they might as well be walking in circles, she stopped at a fork in the tunnel system.
“This is bullshit,” she said. “We haven’t found anything.”
Well, that wasn’t entirely true. They’d found bats, bones, and rotting corpses. They’d also dispatched three scavenger demons drawn by the wendigos’ malevolence.
Once, they’d caught a draft of cool air and followed it, sure they’d finally found a way out. Unfortunately, it turned out to be coming from a narrow gap in the rocks at the top of an unclimbable cliff.
Blade’s head swiveled from left to right, his nose flaring as he inhaled. “I smell fresh air from the right,” he said, his voice little more than a grunt. “Fresher than from the left, anyway.”
She turned to him, forcing herself not to look into his eyes.
She knew better than to meet his gaze—or any Seminus demon’s gaze—when they were fighting their needs.
Their species was literally designed to be sex machines, and everything about them was made to seduce females.
From their hypnotic, color-changing eyes and perfect, muscular physiques, to the pheromones that drugged every female in close proximity, they were sex on a stick.
And with every passing hour, his needs became more urgent, and her ability to focus on anything but her growing arousal tanked.
“How are you doing?” She focused on his broad chest, the way it expanded and contracted with his deep breaths.
He had so many muscles. Hard, thick muscles that flexed beneath his form-fitting turtleneck.
Stop it.
“I don’t have much time.”
The way he said it, with a simmering, velvety undertone, rolled through her like a caress.
Ignore it. Shake it off.
“We’ll get out of here.” She clapped him playfully on the shoulder, and he hissed.
“Don’t,” he growled. Startled, her gaze flew up to his, and her breath caught at the liquid gold swirling in his eyes. Warmth bloomed inside her chest, spreading through her breasts, making them so sensitive that her nipples tingled at the slightest rasp of her bra. “Don’t touch me right now.”
She jerked her hand away, but the languid sense of arousal, the same as she’d felt with Mace, remained. “I’m sorry,” she croaked. “I just—”
“I know. Let’s go.”
He hurried down the tunnel, and she followed him as they wound through more narrow passages that sometimes forced them to crawl.
Man, he had a nice ass.
Stop. It!
Gritting her teeth, she concentrated on getting out. Not on his ass. Or his muscular legs. Or his powerful arms.
Gods, they had to get out of here.
Blade squeezed between the cave walls and waited as she easily slipped through and found herself in an open space, half of which was taken up by a shallow pool.
Her gaze lit on a canvas blob near the far edge of the pool. Could it be…?
Yes!
“My backpack! Yours might be nearby.” While Blade searched the area for his—please, please find it—she dug through her pack for the radio. She nearly shouted in excitement when she found it, intact and functioning.
Quickly, she sent a transmission to Jon and Skoll.
Come on, come on…
“Skoll here.”
She sank against a rock in relief.
“Skoll, it’s Scotty. We need your help.” She explained what’d happened, and in a huge stroke of luck, the other team was near where they’d been swept into the caverns. In an even bigger stroke of luck, Jon had a rough map of the area.
Wraith-like luck, indeed.
“Stay where you are,” Jon told her, as if they had much choice.
She glanced over at Blade, who was still searching for his pack, and lowered her voice. “What’s your ETA?”
“A couple of hours, probably,” Jon said, and her mouth went dry. Blade wouldn’t make it another twenty minutes, let alone two hours. “You said you think the caves are where the wendigos are nesting? Dawn is coming. Watch your backs. They’ll be returning soon. Jon out.”
“Out,” she murmured. Shit.
“I’m not going to make it.” Blade’s voice, dark and smooth, caressed her from across the space.
Desperate to end this…whatever it was happening between them, she fumbled for her dagger. “I’ll open a gate. We must be far enough from the veil.” They had to be.
Nervous tremors made the blade unsteady as she sliced into her hand. For the first time ever, she didn’t dread opening a gate. The weird panic that usually gripped her was held at bay by the urgent need to get out of there.
Blood dripped to the ground. Drip, drip, drip. Too slow! Viciously, she slashed at her palm again. And again.
“Scotty!” Blade started toward her. “What are you doing?”
“It’s taking too long.” She slashed again, and the blood poured, way more than she needed. She didn’t care. They had to get out. She had to get away from Blade.
Clenching her fists, she envisioned a gate.
Nothing. The pool of blood just sat there.
Fuck!
“Blade, I’m sorry—” Her words broke off at the sight of him standing a few feet away, his chest heaving, his golden eyes hyperfocused on her.
“Do you know about the Sem bonding ritual?” he asked, his voice husky, the tone vibrating in her core.
“I…kinda.” Mostly, she just knew that two Sems couldn’t bond with one female. Rade had made that very clear all those years ago.
Blade drifted closer, his gaze locked on her bleeding hand. “The male and female exchange blood. Not much, just a taste, really…”
Oh…gods. If it felt anything like what she’d experienced with Mace—
“Blade.” She snapped her fingers, startling them both out of the sexual haze building around them. “Blade! Get your shit together.”
She needed to get her shit tighter too. But thinking was becoming more and more difficult as his need pumped pheromones into the air.
“I’m sorry, Scotty,” he croaked. “I’m…I’m not going to be able to control myself soon. I’m just going to…go.”
“Go? Go where?”
“Somewhere. Anywhere.” His voice was rough, tortured in a way she’d never heard. “I have to get away from you. I can’t…I won’t…hurt you.”
“Oh, Blade,” she whispered. “You could never hurt me.”
“Not…physically…I don’t think.” The anguish in his expression made her heart ache. She’d rarely seen him so vulnerable. So miserable. “We took an oath. I won’t betray you or Mace.” He ducked into the tunnel.
She couldn’t let him go. He didn’t have much time left, and she wasn’t about to let him die.
“Stop!” When he didn’t, she panicked, unsure what to do. All she knew was that his life depended on her. She’d given Mace what he needed, and now it was time to give Blade what he needed.
Desperate, she shrugged out of her shirt. “Look at me. Blade! Look. At. Me.”
He halted, hands clenched at his sides, his thick shoulders rising and falling with deep, rapid breaths. For a long, drawn-out moment, she thought he’d take off again. But just as she began to give up hope, he turned. Slowly.
“Ah, damn, Scotty,” he rasped. “What are you doing?”
Good question. She unhooked her bra and tossed it to the ground. His hot gaze fell to her breasts, and in response, her nipples tightened and tingled.
“Did you read the oath’s fine print?” Weird how her voice was steady, but her hands shook, fumbled as she unbuttoned her pants. “We’re released from our vow if it’ll save a life.”
“We didn’t—” He cleared his throat, but it didn’t help the hoarseness. “We didn’t sign a contract.”
Before she lost her nerve, she shoved down her jeans and stepped out of them. “We didn’t have to. The fine print is implied.”
Releasing a tortured moan, he closed his eyes. “Scotty, don’t.”
By now, her hands shook so hard she could barely hook her fingers beneath the fabric of her panties to slide them off. In her chest, her heart pounded against her rib cage, and her gut got all twisty.
This was how she’d felt when Mace had been feeding from her. Excited. Afraid. Wanting.
She’d never experienced this before this assignment. Not with any male. Didn’t matter how hot they were. How smooth their words. How skilled their kisses. Even her attraction to Jon and Skoll was shallow. Forced.
So why now? Why were the two males she couldn’t have…the only ones who made her feel something she’d never felt before?
This couldn’t happen. Yet it had to. She knew that. She’d be saving Blade’s life.
But why did she feel so guilty about it?
Her panties slid to the ground, leaving her exposed.
She’d never been shy about her body, especially around Mace and Blade. They’d seen her in all stages of undress, and she’d seen them that way, too. No big deal.
But this? This felt like a big deal.
Resisting the urge to cover herself with her hands, she took a step closer. “Blade?”
He opened his eyes and moaned again.
“Please, Blade,” she whispered as she lost the battle with her confidence and wrapped her arms around herself, as if that would hide anything. “I don’t know how to do this.”
“Do what?” His words were barely discernible, spoken between clenched teeth.
“Seduce someone.”
Molten gold swirled in his eyes, hypnotizing her as he took a step closer. “Fuck, Scotty,” he murmured. “You wouldn’t ever have to—” He shook his head and stepped back. “This isn’t right.”
Obviously, her seductive skills failed, and he didn’t seem to care about his own life. She was a little humiliated by the former but pissed enough about the latter to try from another angle.
“Listen to me, you stubborn ass,” she barked. “Jon and Skoll are potentially hours away. If the wendigos show up, you can’t fight like this. Your stubbornness will put me in danger. It’ll put both of us in danger. We will fail our mission. Do you want that?”
“Never,” he swore. “But—”