Page 17 of Orion: Galaxy Huntress

She glanced down at her new attire, patting the shorts, gasping, probably at how short they were and how much flesh they exposed. Her hands crossed over each other in front of her nether regions.

“Get me another outfit, demon, before I do something you regret!” That glare was enough to start another Trojan War. Absolutely beautiful. “Something more modest that covers skin.”

No time to be shy, really. Her leather barely contained her breasts. I caught peeks of her underwear between the flaps of her skirt. Kitten shouldn’t hide such a beautiful body. Besides, she stood out like an unglamored demon’s horn. No one walked around Bathurst dressed like this unless it was Halloween. I needed her to blend in, not raise eyebrows or scare my customers away. Souls begging to be reaped and improve my KPIs. I was not losing my title of Hell’s Best Soul Harvester. I’d worked too hard to be on top. Screwing people out of their souls was hard work, dammit, and I couldn’t afford to slip. Abaddon had been lusting my title for years, and I’d not hand him the crown.

“Dirty talk will get you everywhere, kitten,” I praised, but her glare intensified, making the disappointment and fury I got from my father seem like child’s play. Where his taunts were cruel and cut down my confidence, her scolding sliced my heart. “Fine. Boring.”

My shoulders sagged and I sighed as I blinked a change of clothes on her. Something more appropriate. Tight jeans, the same boots, and a t-shirt. White, of course. See through when wet. And I planned to spill water on it, so it clung to her breasts, tiny waist and hourglass hips. A beauty such as she should not be hidden by clothing. Not that we’d be wearing much tonight when I seduced her into my bed. Satin sheets… nothing but the best for my new plaything.

I plucked a kitchen knife from its sheath and set it in her palm, wrapping those sexy, elegant fingers over it. “Do you know how to slice an animal?” I whispered into her ear as I slid behind her, curling my arms around her waist, one holding her hip, the other her wrist. I needed the smell of cow blood in my nose to wash away the foul stench of vampire clinging to me.

“Yes, don’t be silly, demon,” she breathed. Hot. Heady. Aroused. Just the way I liked a woman.

“Well get to work, kitten.” I slapped her on the ass and left her to her devices. My dick groaned as I left her. But two could play hard to get.

I got harder hearing her cut through the cow’s thick hide and peel it back from the corpse. Lord, have mercy! I would have loved to take her on the counter, drive my stiff cock into her, but I had to make sure she was as resourceful as she promised. No more diva mistresses. I wanted a woman who knew her way around the kitchen, in the bedroom, and knew how to slay one of my enemies. My ideal woman.

Outside in the bar, I poured myself a scotch because I needed one to calm the fire she set in my body. Normally heat didn’t bother me since I was born of Hell. But this was a different kind of blaze. Warm, fuzzy, and cozy. Like home. The woman made my insides dance and sing. Fuck. I think I really liked her.

“What the fuck did you do to me?” a voice growled at me.

I glanced up to find Ace rubbing at his bandaged shoulder with a stiff glare.

I pointed to whatever trouble he’d gotten himself into. “I had nothing to do with that.” My black heart huffed with defeat. Normally I’d be all over that shit, cursing people with bad luck through every clause in my contract. Trouble was my middle name. Deception, lies, cheating, my game. But since Ace never signed one, I only got in one fuck-him-up clause instead of fifty. Kitten.

Wait a minute. Had kitten stabbed him? Suddenly I was interested in Ace’s torment. Otherwise I didn’t give a shit. I got off on people’s suffering. It was my purpose, my sole reason for existence. Love, peace, harmony and all the fluffy shit just made me grumpy.

“Yes, you did!” Ace’s temper was unleased. A fine thing to see. Lit the hellfire within me and cleared away that foreign, fluffy feeling. “You threw a mate into our deal. That wasn’t part of the bargain.”

I tossed back my scotch, hissing at the sting of the liquid, and came around the side of the bar. Feeling better now that the hazy sensation had cleared, I threw an arm over his shoulder, stilling him as he wrestled me. He’d only hurt himself if he fought me. We couldn’t have him tearing those stitches now, could we?

“Ace, I don’t see what the big deal is.” I patted him on his sore shoulder, making him growl, and feeling no pity whatsoever. Kitten had done this. Pain was my game. Her temper made me proud. She would go off like a rocket in bed and I couldn’t wait.

“Big deal?” he growled, lower, deeper, thicker in his chest. “She stabbed me.”

Lucky I’d left her in the kitchen, or we’d have a scene on our hands. And this establishment didn’t need another mass mind wipe and more distracted, tormented employees on worker’s compensation claims.

“Sorry, Ace, the deal’s been sealed with a handshake.”

“Fuck.” Ace swiped an angry hand through his hair. “You’re gonna pay for this con, Vice.”

Oh, I planned on it. With his mate. She was mine now.

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