Page 6 of Demon’s Temptation

Self-destruction.

The door was shut, he couldn’t see her, but Brent could still feel her just beyond it. Taunting him, calling to him.

Hissing a curse, he fisted Spencer’s soft curls and slipped deeper, began fucking the guy’s mouth like he’d promised. Closing his eyes, he tried to let sensation take over, to get lost in the feel of a hot, moist mouth, but all he could see was Chaya. The seductive way she’d danced in that cage, those spike-heeled boots. How, for a split second, she’d held his stare and he’d fooled himself into seeing something he wanted so desperately. Christ, imagined that she’d walked out of that cage, right up to him, and instead of him having to hurt her, she’d ordered him to his knees.

That she’d made him hers.

And then memories, twisted and vivid, invaded his mind like they always did. The confusion, the disgust, the fear—the desperate, unending craving for more he’d felt when he became a demi-demon in that place four years ago. The guilt and self-loathing over the way he’d begged for more every damn day.

He struggled with that even now, like it was yesterday. The damage it had caused, that Garrett had caused, was more than he knew how to deal with.

His balls drew tight, and as good as this guy was at sucking cock, it wasn’t enough. It never was. And the reason Spencer wore a mask. This was Brent’s shame, and his alone.

Reaching down, he fisted his balls and squeezed hard. Punishing himself was the only way he could get off now. Punishment for what he’d allowed them to do to him, for what he’d asked them to do.

The pain nearly buckled his knees. Familiar agony shot through him, nausea hitting him low in the gut.

With an agonized shout, he came.

Finally. Sweet release.

Chapter 2

Chaya finished cleaning off the mascara smeared under her eyes making her look like a deranged panda. What she wouldn’t give for the ability to scrub memories right then. The club’s dressing room had been empty when she walked in, which was good because she so wasn’t ready to face anyone yet.

At least she was in the same city as Mia now, because she needed some sister time stat. The move to Roxburgh and helping open up the new club had kept her busy. She hadn’t spent nearly enough time with her sister since moving as she’d have liked. Tomorrow’s lunch catch-up with the girls at the compound couldn’t come fast enough.

Covering her face with her hands, she groaned. “I’m an idiot.”

Humiliation, disappointment, and plain old hurt swamped her. For a second there, she actually thought he might…

She shook her head.

Stop it.

She was through fooling herself. Yeah, there was an attraction between them, but it didn’t matter—he wasn’t going to act on it. He’d well and truly proven that tonight.

She wasn’t a fool. She was a strong, independent, intelligent female. Her mother had made sure she and her sister respected themselves, knew their worth…but for some reason, when it came to Brent Silva, all of it, every damn shred of common sense dissolved into a puddle of stupid. Her feelings for him refused to die, no matter how hard she tried to force them down, no matter how many times he ignored her advances.

Her seduction technique was obviously for shit because if dancing around in front of him in her undies hadn’t enticed him enough to make a move, she didn’t know what would.

Good thing she hadn’t moved to Roxburgh just for Brent. No, there was another reason she was in this city. There was a war going on and she was done sitting on the sideline watching demi-demons, just like her, live in fear. Or worse, be hunted like animals and kept prisoner. And lately, demons who had sought refuge, allowed to stay in this city safely and freely, after agreeing to rules set down by the knights, had been acting out. It was like they were being controlled en masse by something or someone powerful. Demi couldn’t just sit by and do nothing. They needed to help themselves. This was their war as well.

But before she could save the world from invading demons, she needed to get through the rest of the night.

After squeezing out another glob of concealer, she dabbed it around her eyes. Crap. The deranged panda was gone but there was no way to hide her red eyes.

God, the way he’d looked at her across the room, the heat, the hunger. A shiver moved through her. She’d actually thought this is it, it’s finally going to happen.

So stupid.

As a demi-demon—half human, half demon—she had a certain amount of power. Her sister, Mia, had some amazing fire-throwing, energy-giving power that her mate, Zenon, a Knight of Hell—giant demon-killing dudes that were the result of demons and fallen angels getting it on—needed to survive on Earth. It was a big deal, had some serious kick.

This shouldn’t have been a surprise. Their father might not have been back in their lives very long, for reasons beyond his control, but they’d learned since he’d returned that he was an extremely powerful demon. But unlike Mia, all that amazing power had not passed on to Chaya. Oh no, her only gift was the ability to sense emotions and draw them into herself. Which sounded cool, but so wasn’t. Because once she took it inside herself, she had a hard time getting rid of it. And if she held on to those emotions long enough, they became her own for a while, causing her bouts of depression, rage, lust, with no release from them. And if she got enough, they could be completely debilitating. So, no, not cool.

One of the knights’ jobs, besides killing rogue demons, was to watch over her kind when their demon powers developed, usually between their late teens and early twenties. When she’d developed hers, they’d taught her how to block her empathic ability. They’d also taught her how to release the emotions she drew into herself, but it wasn’t easy. She needed a willing participant—well, the willing part wasn’t necessary—to use as a conduit. But she’d never do that to someone without their consent, and volunteers weren’t exactly easy to come by. Having someone else’s emotions pumped through you was no barrel of laughs.

So more often than not, she blocked them out. But tonight, for the first time in months, she’d tried to sense what Brent was feeling…and as usual, the male had been locked up tight. She’d never felt anything like it. It was like he’d surrounded himself with ten-inch-thick steel. And there was no crack in his armor, no way in.