Succubus Unchained - Heather Long Page 0,35

already half-forgotten the furrows the daeva dug into my arms when I’d been fighting her. If anything, their discomfort could hardly compete with wretched need burning within me.

“It’s nothing…” But he slid an arm around my waist and tugged me to him.

Oh, yes please.

My hands rested against his chest. He dipped his head and rubbed his chin against my hair. “You reek of blood and death.”

“You smell like peppermint farts and rainbows,” I returned drily, and that earned me a sharp slap against the ass, but I still smirked. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s been a few weeks, I wanted to check on you.” We stood in the shadows between two buildings, but we couldn’t stay here. Though I was loathe to pull away.

Fuck me. First Fin, now Rogue. I left them for a reason. I did not need to get sucked back into their orbit.

“I need to go, Rogue,” I told him, and tried to ignore the groan underscoring my words. He really did smell good. Better than the nasty blood I wore.

“Where do you need to go, little sváss?”

Fuck.

“Away.” I forced myself to step back, but he didn’t let me go. Not even when the blood I wore began to soak his shirt. Great, we were both going to be disgusting. “Rogue, stop. Fin’s here, and if we linger…”

I didn’t even get to complete the thought. Rogue moved. He lifted me against him, his hand wrapping against the back of my head, and he ran. It was like when he took me from the prison, only I was a hell of a lot more aware this time, and the air that seemingly shredded my skin before barely stung now.

Well, mark one point in the pro-vampire column.

It still had a long way to go.

Face buried against Rogue’s neck, I filled my lungs with the scent of him. It helped to clear out the cloying sticky nature of the blood in my nostrils. It washed away the taint from the earlier fight. It even chased away the bitter bite of loneliness that had crept in like a thief over the last few weeks.

Rogue didn’t slow until salty air brushed my face. When he stopped, I lifted my head and stared at the sandy beach revealed under the half-moon above. The light was dim, particularly when you took into account the clouds and the promise of a storm in the distance. Lightning flashed, dancing across the horizon.

It was perfect.

Rogue lowered me to my feet and then settled his hands on my hips as I got my wobbling legs under me. My muscles protested how long I’d been plastered against him, thighs hitched to his hips as I held on. Not that I had any fear he would drop me.

“It’s beautiful.”

“I thought you’d like this…” Then he stroked his fingers over my bare shoulder. “You’re still covered in blood.”

I wasn’t alone in that. I tossed him a look over my shoulder and raked my gaze over him. “It’s a good thing we have all this water then, isn’t it?”

I’d never been shy, and I didn’t give a damn what most people thought. At the same time, it was like I’d been possessed by a giddiness I’d never experienced. I toed off my shoes, then stripped out of the top before peeling out of the jeans. I removed it all down to bare skin. Rogue’s gaze rested on me fiercely, and he made no pretense about liking what he saw.

The erection straining the front of his pants would have told me that, but there was something far more raw and devastating in the way his eyes flickered from darkness to light. I didn’t get him. Not really.

He hadn’t wanted me, not when they’d stolen me from the prison. His body had been more than accommodating to my needs, but he’d kept his mind and his emotions in check. Not something Fin or Maddox had done.

Maddox.

My heart squeezed, and I dragged my gaze off Rogue before I gave myself away. I wanted to ask how he was. The question was right there on my lips and it burned on my tongue, but I refused to give it voice. I hadn’t asked Fin, and I’d be damned before I asked Rogue.

If I asked anyone about Maddox, it would be Maddox himself.

With a sway of my hips, I marched toward the water. I didn’t look back. The cove was relatively private. I didn’t see or hear anyone else—not that the presence of others would have slowed