A Dangerous Fury (The Sentinel Demons Book 3) Read online

  “What the hell did you do?” Hunter asked warily, sitting up and flexing his limbs. After testing out his improved condition, he said gruffly, “I feel almost normal again.”

  “It’s a temporary fix, but it won’t last unless we mate. You need your own powers back, too,” she warned him.

  “What did you do?” Hunter repeated insistently, locking his gaze with hers.

  Athena shrugged. “I infused you with some of my magic, enough so you can get it up to mate.”

  Hunter’s expression turned indignant. “I don’t have a problem getting it up, Princess. All I have to do is be in the same room with you.”

  “You were unconscious,” she reminded him reasonably. “I hardly think you can mate like that.”

  “So you lost some power temporarily?” His voice was getting stronger, and more demanding.

  “I’ll explain later,” she told him hurriedly, healing her injuries and cleaning herself up with her magic now that she was certain Hunter had the power he needed. “Say the mating words, Hunter,” she pleaded desperately. “Trust me.” She knew he’d be bound immediately after uttering the oath.

  “Trust isn’t the issue, Athena,” Hunter grumbled. “It will never be an issue with us. I told you I’d be willing to die for you.” His voice grew lower, hungrier.

  Athena wanted to tell him that he almost did die because of her and the gods, but her focus was completely single-minded at the moment: seduce and bond with Hunter Winston.

  Desperate to know Hunter was safe, Athena stood and unbuckled the belt of her gown, removing her clothing the human way. Hunter stopped talking, and she could feel his eyes riveted to her body as she slowly lowered the single shoulder of her long dress and it slid down her body as she lowered her arms. The material caught for a moment at her hips and she shimmied to make the gown fall to the floor with her belt.

  Before Hunter could use any of the valuable magic she’d transferred to him, she pulled back the sheet, discovering that although he was bare-chested, he was still wearing jeans. She removed them impatiently with a wave of her hand.

  “I told you I have no problem getting it up when you’re around,” Hunter said hoarsely, glancing at his erect and beyond-ready cock.

  Her core clenched as she surveyed his gorgeous, naked body, every muscle rippling with power. Her eyes stayed fixed on his enormous member for a moment before she finally broke her stare.

  Athena cleansed the bed and then Hunter, taking away all of the signs of his illness. Then, she climbed as seductively as she could onto the bed and pushed him back onto the pillow. “Mate with me, Hunter. Make me yours.”

  His eyes flared as he eyed her hotly. “Jesus, there are times when I’m so damn happy you don’t wear underwear.”

  She gave him what she hoped was a sensual smile. “I’m assuming now is one of those times?”

  “Yes,” he grunted, grasping her around the waist and wrapping a large hand behind her neck. “At least kiss me before you fuck me,” he said, amused, his lips starting to form a tiny smile.

  Athena was lost at that moment, her body catching fire as her belly fluttered just from seeing his naughty smirk. She straddled him as he pulled her mouth down to his and devoured her lips with a hunger that she answered immediately. Their tongues entwined and fought for dominance, neither one of them really caring who won. All Athena cared about was getting close to him, absorbing his essence into her being.

  Athena came out of the embrace panting, her core slick against his rock-hard abs. “I need you,” she entreated, not caring if she begged him to mate them.

  “Tell me the words again, Athena. I want to hear them. Say them over and over again,” Hunter demanded in a guttural voice.

  “I love you,” she said in a breathless rush. “I love you.”

  His eyes fierce, Hunter relinquished his hold on her reluctantly as he said solemnly, “I love you, too, my beautiful goddess.”

  Athena’s heart didn’t have a chance to totally absorb his words. With his next breath, he started the mating chant in the ancient demonic language, his voice strong and urgent. Athena gasped as his arms flew above his head and were fixed in an outstretched position that looked almost painful. His legs were bound in the same manner by the invisible, unbreakable ties of the mating ritual.

  He loves me. He really loves me.

  Her heart was slamming against her chest wall, her entire being flooding with happiness and light. “I want to make this pleasant for you. I don’t know how to seduce a man,” she told him hesitantly. “I want to touch you.”

  “This body is fucking yours. Do whatever you want, but please do something,” Hunter snarled in an anguished voice.

  Athena knelt beside him and ran a covetous hand along his hard chest, relishing the feel of every sculpted muscle. He was such a miracle to her that she could hardly breathe.

  Slowly trailing her hand down, she wrapped her fingers around his cock, savoring the rigid feel of him, and the velvety covering that stretched along his length. Leaning down, she licked the droplet of fluid from the silky head, twirling her tongue around it as she moaned. “You taste so good,” she whispered against his cock.

  She’d tasted him before, but never for very long. Hunter always lost his patience and flipped her onto her back and buried himself inside her. Not that she’d ever complained about that, but having him restrained was an erotic experience, one that she wanted to use to pleasure him.

  Athena took her time, opening her mouth wider and taking as much of his shaft as she possibly could, sucking him like a lollipop as she pulled back. He tasted like Hunter, and he was intoxicating. She lost all sense of time and place as she took him deeper and deeper, his groans of pleasure urging her on.

  “Athena, stop or I’ll come,” Hunter commanded, yanking at his invisible restraints. “Goddamn it, stop!” he bellowed when she continued.

  His yell jolted Athena back into reality and she slowly let his cock pop out of her mouth. No matter how desperately she wanted to make him come, taste his satisfaction on her tongue, her need to mate was greater.

  She moved her leg over his body to straddle him, desperate to feel him inside her. “You’re mine now, Hunter.”

  “I’ve always been yours,” he growled. “You need to be ready, Princess.”

  “I’m ready,” she whispered huskily, watching his sexy face as his hypnotic amber eyes speared her.

  She’d never been with Hunter this way. He put it off, concerned about her taking him too deep in her near-virginal state.

  “Show me,” he demanded.

  Before she could ask him what he meant, she saw the vision he put in her mind. She was too far gone to hesitate, putting her fingers between her thighs and running them along her saturated folds. She was already wet, and hot enough to self-combust. Like the image, she pulled her hand away and moved it to Hunter’s mouth. He sucked her fingers greedily, his rough tongue laving each finger thoroughly, as though he were desperate for a taste of her. “Fuck me,” Hunter commanded blatantly as he finally finished feasting on her fingers.

  His low, deep order vibrated through Athena, and she responded by lifting her body up, positioning his cock, and letting the shaft enter her until Hunter was balls deep inside her. “Like that?” she asked him on a moan, wanting to be as arrogant as he was, but he felt too damn good.

  “Oh, hell yeah.” His demands had subsided and his oath sounded almost awed. “That’s it, sweetheart. Ride me hard.”

  Her muscles stretched to accept his length and girth in the unfamiliar position, but the sensation rocked her world, having Hunter buried so deeply inside her. She felt so connected to him, so consumed by him. She lifted up again and sank back down, falling into a fast-paced rhythm as she watched Hunter’s face. He was watching her.

  “Your eyes are so red, so incredibly hot,” Hunter rasped as he tried to lift his hips t
o meet her downward stroke. “Touch your breasts, Athena. Make it as good as it can get.”

  She gasped as Hunter filled her once again, wondering if she could take it any hotter. But her breasts were rising and falling, and they felt good when she reached her hands up to cup them. Her nipples were hard and sensitive, and she pinched them to try to make the ache in her belly go away. It didn’t. It intensified, and she broke Hunter’s gaze to lean her head back and let out a strangled moan. “Oh God, Hunter. I can’t stand it.”

  “Bite me, Athena. Claim me right fucking now.” His voice was both arrogant and pleading at the same time.

  “Mine,” she whispered harshly before putting a hand on both sides of his head to steady herself. She leaned down swiftly and found the faded mating mark. Sinking her teeth into his skin hard, she started to come as she marked him.

  “Christ!” Hunter snarled, his entire body starting to shudder as Athena clamped down on his shoulder and his cock.

  Their positions switched almost instantly, Hunter rolling her onto her back and pummeling into her body as she leaned her head back on the pillow with her eyes closed. Her body continued to pulsate even after she released her teeth from his shoulder, and she screamed as Hunter bit her while he hammered his cock into her over and over.

  Completely overwhelmed, Athena rode out the waves of intense pleasure, wrapping her arms around Hunter and sinking her nails into his upper back. Her legs wrapped unconsciously around him, her hips surging up to meet every hard thrust of his cock.

  Mine. Mine. Mine.

  Athena savored the sound of Hunter’s gruff voice claiming her in her mind. “Yours,” she agreed out loud.

  “Us,” Hunter groaned as her climax milked his orgasm and he spilled his warm release deep inside her.

  They stayed locked together, and Hunter rolled her on top of him again. Athena came back to reality slowly, her heart slowing as the moments passed. “I love you,” she whispered against his ear.

  “I love you more,” Hunter said in a voice cracking with emotion. “I still don’t know how I ended up winning your love, but it will always be my most valued possession.” He stroked her hair gently, tenderly.

  “And yours will be mine,” she answered softly, landing a gentle kiss on his neck.

  “Let me see my mark,” he requested dominantly, as though he needed proof that she really was his.

  She leaned up and let Hunter view the vibrant twin flames, now deep red and throwing orange flames of magic. Her breath caught as she saw Hunter’s shoulder, the mark imprinted boldly there now.

  She touched the mating impression gently. “Does it hurt?”

  He grinned up at her. “As much as yours does.”

  The mating symbol didn’t hurt at all. In fact, her soul was bursting with love, and the tattoo was pleasantly warm.

  She grinned back at him like an idiot. “We’re mated.” She sighed and dropped her head on his shoulder.

  Athena didn’t need to ask if Hunter was happy. She could feel her warmth radiating in his soul, and his darkness finding a place in hers. It made her strangely content.

  Hunter shifted, and rolled onto his side. He wrapped his arms around her and released a masculine sigh as their bodies met skin-to-skin. He placed one leg between hers until their bodies were completely entwined.

  “Are you hurting?” he drawled sleepily.

  Athena knew he was ready to jump out of bed the moment she affirmed that she needed anything, even though she could manifest it herself.

  “No,” she denied quickly, hugging him tighter. “All I need is for you to hold me.” The entire mating experience had been emotionally overwhelming. She needed time to get used to being completely bonded to Hunter.

  “Wild horses couldn’t drag me away, sweetheart.”

  She felt his arms tighten around her, and she buried her head against his chest. “I love you.” Athena knew that Hunter was completely in her mind now, could read her devotion to him. Still, it felt good to say it aloud.

  “You can say it any time you want, Princess. I love you, too.”

  Athena’s eyes fluttered closed and her body relaxed. The goddess essence had left her, and she was now Hunter’s radiant.

  She fell asleep with a smile on her lips, thinking that it was funny that she didn’t really miss being a goddess at all.

  “What do you mean that your power loss wasn’t temporary?” Hunter asked gruffly as he ate the breakfast Athena had provided with her powers.

  She looked around the colorful kitchen, admiring her handiwork before she looked at Hunter. “If I wanted to save your life, the power could never be recovered. It’s not as if I’m powerless. I just gave some of it to you.”

  For Athena, it was no big deal. She’d lost her goddess essence, but she still retained what power she’d had left after transferring some of her magic to Hunter so he’d awaken long enough to mate and regain his own power. “So you have a little extra juice. Why does it matter?”

  “Because I don’t want your power. What if you need it to protect yourself?” Hunter asked, his tone angry and concerned. “I have my own.”

  Athena sighed and dropped her fork on her plate; her enjoyment of the omelet in front of her now disappeared. “I have my own, too. Yes, I drained some of my power, but I did it to save your life. I still have an enormous amount of magic. I also still have some of my goddess abilities that will never go away.” She waved her hand at the food they were eating spread all over the kitchen table. “I can still produce good food, and most importantly I’ll be capable of reverting the Evils to their original state. My mother said those abilities are inherent and never go away.”

  She and Hunter hadn’t done a lot of talking this morning, their need for each other when they woke acute and irresistible. It was only when they finally sat down to breakfast that they began to talk, Athena sharing the details of what exactly had happened to her and her experiences in the Elysian Fields.

  “I don’t like it,” Hunter grumbled as he stopped staring at her and began to eat. “You lose your power to save my life? It sucks.”

  “Tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing.” Athena’s brow rose in challenge.

  “I would have drained myself dry to save you, Princess,” he admitted grudgingly, looking up at her with a lopsided grin.

  Athena’s heart clenched, knowing Hunter was telling the truth. “Then why is it so bad that I sacrificed very little to get a lot?” He meant everything to her, and he was balking over a little loss of her power?

  “You’re going to get it a lot,” Hunter agreed, his smile turning wicked as he deliberately altered the meaning of her statement.

  “I think I already have,” she shot back at him with a happy smile. After last night and this morning, she was a little sore, but it had been so completely worth the discomfort.

  His smile faded and his expression turned stormy as he asked in a graveled voice, “What can I give you in return, Athena? How does a man make up for needing to take his woman’s power to survive? I don’t deserve you, and I feel like any moment I’m going to wake up and you’ll be gone. Things like you don’t happen to men like me.”

  Athena’s heart clenched hard when she saw the serious look on his face. She rose and walked around the table. She plopped her ass in his lap, and he was forced to push his chair back.

  “I’m not going anywhere…not ever. We’re bonded to each other. Can’t you feel how happy you make me?” she asked as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

  “Yeah. But I still can’t say I understand why,” he grumbled as he slipped his arms around her protectively to steady her.

  It might take a day…or a week…or a month…possibly even years to convince Hunter that he was so much more than worthy of love. Those kinds of wounds from years of isolation wouldn’t heal in a day for either one of them. But Athena was determined
to heal them over eventually. Someday, they’d both get used to having someone to lean on, someone who would love them unconditionally.

  “Maybe this will make you happy,” Athena told him mischievously. “Since I’m no longer really a goddess, I can kill Evils.”

  Hunter’s head jerked up to look at her face, his expression one of relief. “Really? Damn. That is pretty awesome.”

  Only Hunter would think it was fantastic because she could lop off the heads of Evils. Athena smiled as she hopped off his lap. “My mother made these real,” Athena told him excitedly as the tiny stylized sword that decorated the nail polish on her right toe materialized into a large weapon. The grip of the saber fit her hand perfectly.

  “Holy shit,” Hunter answered enthusiastically. “Nice. You’ll always carry protection that’s designed especially for you.”

  “Do you like it?” she asked, running the tip of the weapon sensually down the front of his t-shirt. “I was a goddess of war when I needed to be.”

  His eyes flared bright gold. “There’s something hot about a female who knows how to fight.”

  Athena watched his throat move as he swallowed, the movement sexy because she knew he was salivating and hot to be inside her again. She returned the sword to its hiding place on her nail and plopped back into Hunter’s lap.

  “Okay…so tell us what happened.” Drew’s voice was concerned as it sounded behind Athena and Hunter. “You look good,” he continued, sounding relieved as he looked at his brother holding his mate on his lap.

  “Your timing sucks,” Hunter complained, shooting a glare at Drew as Athena sprung from his lap and he turned around.

  Athena smiled at Talia, who was at Drew’s side as Zach and Kat popped into the room to join them. Kat didn’t hesitate to throw herself at Hunter, and he stood up to catch her as she wrapped her arms around him.

  “I was so worried!” Kat exclaimed, hugging Hunter tightly.