When he jabbed at my belly, I sucked it in as I arched back enough to keep my intestines from spilling free. With a turn of my wrist, I caught the tip of his sword with my blade and slammed it into the ground.
When he lifted his head, his smile was gone, and his eyes narrowed. I kept his sword pinned to the ground as I punched him in the face. Bone crunched, blood spilled free, and his head snapped back. His hand flew toward his face, but before he grabbed his battered nose, he dropped his palm to smash my wrist aside when I tried to bury my blade in his stomach.
The flames leapt higher when he swung his sword up in a move that would have sliced me from groin to gullet if I didn’t deflect it with my blade. The steel of our swords clashed, and sparks flew from our blades as we pushed each other forward and back while dancing around each other.
Despite his bone-crushing blows and our lethal dance, a smile curved the corners of his thick lips. I would wipe that smile off his face by slicing him open, but every move I made, he countered. Despite my inane hatred for everything this monster represented, I couldn’t deny my grudging respect for his talent with a sword.
As much as I hated to admit it, the way he danced was beautiful. He was almost as fluid as the fire and just as deadly. This horseman knew how to kill, and he thrived on it. But then, he was Wrath; he was born to leave misery in his wake.
My hands and arms ached from his blows as steel kissed steel over and over again as the exertion of our fight started wearing me down. I nearly missed deflecting his next blow before it took my other ear off. When his smile grew, I bit back a scream; this fucker wasplayingwith me.
Our blades kissed against each other and slid down. He twisted mine over and pushed down until I had no choice but to save my wrist from breaking by yielding to him. With my sword pinned to the ground, I launched another punch at his face. He caught my hand before I could break his jaw and jerked me forward.
I tried to yank my hand free of his powerful grasp, but he wouldn’t let go as he pushed me down until my knees smacked off the rock. He pulled his blade away from mine, but before he could kill me with it, I jerked as far back as I could and got my feet out from under me.
I swept my leg against his and knocked his feet out from under him. When he hit the ground on his back, his sword tumbled from his grasp and clattered against the rock as it bounced a few feet away.
The fire parted, and the head of his mount materialized while the rest of its body remained hidden in flames. I expected it to charge at me, but it stayed where it was while its eyes danced with fire. I didn’t know why it chose not to come after me, but I would take this small favor.
With his hold on me broken, I gripped my sword in both hands and rose on my knees to plunge it into Wrath’s belly. I drove it down as he rolled out of the way and reclaimed his sword. The tip of my blade crashed into the rock, and a chunk of stone broke away as sparks shot up.
No!
I’d made a huge mistake and wasn’t prepared to block his blow. Somehow, he’d anticipated it. My heart pounded, and all my senses honed in on him as time slowed. The sound of the fire died away as the whistle of his sword arcing toward my neck became the only noise I heard.
Somehow, I managed to swing my sword up too. I couldn’t deflect his sword, but as his steel pressed against my neck, my blade cut into the skin beneath his ear. A hot trickle of blood crept down my flesh and his blood beaded on the tip of my sword while we knelt, staring at each other.
Cut off his head!
I’d probably lose mine too, but it didn’t matter. I’d fought my whole life to keep things like him from taking over Hell and now Earth. I’d accepted the fact I would perish in a fight and would proudly do so.
But something kept my hand from pushing my sword deeper into his throat and ending the suffering he rained down wherever he went.
The fire faded from his eyes as they became a deep, fathomless black. And then, instead of killing me, he grasped the back of my head and dragged me toward him. I stiffened against whatever he intended but didn’t pull away.
And when his mouth crushed mine, I realized why I hadn’t resisted him… I’d known what he planned all along, and a part of mecravedit.
His kiss was rough as it mashed my lips against my teeth, but I didn’t care as my body reacted like lightning struck it. My heart hammered, goose bumps covered my flesh, and my back bowed as desire seared through my veins. It wassowrong, yet it felt so incredibly right.
It wasn’t until I heard the clatter of steel against rock that I realized my blade had fallen from his neck to hit the ground. I couldn’t feel his sword against my skin anymore. I should break away; I should run. I should kill him now. Instead, my fingers entangled in his thick, black hair as I pulled him closer.
My nipples hardened when his bare chest met mine. Tendrils of pleasure spiraled through my veins while the rigid evidence of his arousal rested against my belly. Then he did the most destructive thing he could to me; he softened the kiss.
My body melted into his as the pressure of his mouth eased, and his tongue teased my lips until they parted. I actuallysighedwhen his tongue touched mine, and I sank deeper into him as our tongues entwined.
I’d been with countless demons in my lengthy life, but I’d never been kissed before or evenhadthe impulse to kiss someone. Demons didn’t kiss; we fucked, and we moved on. Had I been missing something this whole time by not kissing the others?
And when his kiss softened further, I realized I’d missed a whole lot of something. However, no other demon could have given it to me becausethisman was what I’d been missing.
He wassoright against me, and he made my body come alive in a way it never had before. When his grip on my hip eased and his hand slid around to cup my ass, I stopped myself from squirming while I rubbed against his erection. Seeming to feed on our sexual energy, the fire grew around us.
I wanted—no, Ineededmore.
I needed this man.
MyChosen.
The realization of what he was rocked me enough that my euphoria vanished.No! No! No!
