Page 41 of Siren Sins
I glanced at him as he sat on one of the long-armed sofas sharpening a knife. “Where did you get that thing?” I snapped.
He grinned. “Apollo gave it to me. Pretty cool, huh?” He lifted the blade for me to see. I frowned when I noticed a dragon spiraling around the small hilt.
“Aren’t you supposed to hate dragons?” I asked as I leaned back onto the bed and interlocked my fingers behind my head. “Why would you want something like that?”
He shrugged and resumed the irritating grating of whetstone against steel that made my teeth itch. “I don’t think Apollo is so bad,” he said, not answering my question. Another sweep of his hand made my toes curl as the terrible sound riveted through my body. “Maybe we’ll learn more at the party before we make any rash decisions.”
“Rash decisions?” I said, jerking upright. “You remember who we’re talking about, right? Derek, the Incubus King, who forced you to charge my Blood Stone. Derek, the bastard who kidnapped me and tried to sell me as consort to the dragons.” I thumped my fist against my chest. “Derek, the lunatic who tried to unleash demons on Earth by using us, and forcing us to make the Blood Stone that now sits in my chest.” I pointed at the closed door. “Apollo is in league with Derek. That means that Apollo is our enemy and we need to figure out what he’s up to and stop him.”
As if I hadn’t just listed every logical reason we needed to take Apollo out, Luke screeched the stone against his blade again, making my shoulders curl with irritation. “We both heard him. Apollo is trying to help his daughter. Maybe he thinks this is the only way.”
I yanked myself off the bed and snatched up the whetstone and threw it across the room. “It’s because of Apollo that Sarah is in trouble!”
Luke frowned. “I think we both know whose fault it is that Sarah is here.”
My eyes grew wide as rage wound around my chest. Sparks of red flickered across my arms. “What did you just say to me?”
He sighed and stood, his dagger hanging loose from his hand. “You misunderstand me, Sonya. I just mean that it’s okay to feel guilty for it, for everything—”
I punched him, right in the stomach and as hard as I could. Tears sprang to my eyes when he crumpled over. He glared at me, recovering with impressive speed and straightened. “Punch me again.”
It wasn’t a taunt. He could regenerate from any wound, and we both knew that I was about to lose my shit.
“No, Luke, I didn’t mean—”
He moved so fast that my powers reacted out of reflex. His dagger came at my throat and I blocked it with a red metallic haze. My fingers curled into a fist and slammed into his face.
He went down and a bruise blossomed across his cheek. The dagger still in his hand, he came at me again.
I retaliated.
Before I knew it, we were caught in a dance of blinding speed as the bedroom swirled. I unleashed my anger and my rage. I punched him as hard as I could. I screamed, not giving him time to recover as I slammed my fists into him over and over again. I lost myself to the guilt and hatred that tore through me. I hated what I was. I hated everything that I’d done. I hated myself, because Luke was right. If it hadn’t been for me, Sarah wouldn’t have even been here.
The room glowed with the ruby wisps of my power as tears sizzled down my face. I’d lost the energy to keep going after him. He tossed the dagger to the ground and wrapped his hands around my waist. He pulled me close, and I stared at his busted lip as it healed before my eyes. He took his thumb, ran it across the glistening blood, and then glided his finger over my lips. “Accept what you are,” he commanded, his voice husky and dangerous “because I’ve decided to accept you, whether you like it or not.”
I stared at him, ready to make a retort that he didn’t know what I’d done, that I’d fucked Vikki and I hated myself for it. Before the words could come out, he drew me in and kissed me hard.
My body went rigid as the electric power of his passion swept through me. It was more than just the typical lust I tasted on a man’s tongue. This was something deeper, something far more powerful. When I managed to pull away, I gasped for breath.
He waited as he watched me, his hand still in a possessive grip around my waist. It was only when I realized what he was waiting for did I let the words fall from my lips. “Prove it to me that you accept me. Prove that I mean something to you, no matter what I’ve done.”
With a grin, he took on the challenge and claimed my mouth again. Warmth spread across my chest as my powers kicked in, but I couldn’t hurt him. Sexual energy wafted from him in exuberant waves. His power was a delicious honey that could fuel me for lifetimes to come.
“Luke,” I whispered, “please.”
It was a simple word, but for a succubus to plead for sex showed him more than I could ever put into words. I needed to know that he forgave me for all the terrible things I’d done. If he could forgive me, then perhaps I could forgive myself.
He sat onto the bed and drew me on top of him until my thighs straddled his waist. His hands roamed up my back, under my shirt and explored my skin before running across the rune that lit up under his touch. “Tell me everything you regret.”
Fresh tears stung at my eyes as images of past victims sprang to mind. “I can’t.”
He pulled me close and pressed his cheek to my breasts. “Your heart beats so fast, but it’s strong. I feel the heat of your magic, but I also feel the passion that lives within you.” He turned and kissed my left breast. “Your heart is beautiful. Don’t let it be broken. Let it mend.”
Looking into the depths of his impossibly blue eyes, I reminded myself what Luke was. Two of his fathers had been angels, and his mother was a powerful Seer. There was so much ancient power and magic in him that if I looked closely, I could see the storm of it behind the glassy mystery of his eyes. “Do you intend to fix me, my sweet angel?”
Luke smiled, the gesture absolutely charming. “I intend to show you that you don’t need fixing.”
I hated his persistence, so I decided to go along and prove to him that this was a foolish errand. “I’ve killed six men. Not all of them were innocent, but I still snuffed out life. But the innocent ones—” I broke off as my voice cracked. Trying again, I whispered, “David.”
