Demon Forged

they all thought as Jake did.
    “She fought a nosferatu and was dying. After I killed it, I gave her the heart,” she said. “The next morning the sun rose, and she died.”
    Olek did know her so well that she didn’t need to add more. She saw that he understood it all: her admiration for the girl; the frustration of not anticipating her death; the weight of failure.
    Perhaps the novices had been right to go to him.
    But he still surprised her when he said, “You saw yourself in her?”
    “Yes.” The girl had reminded Irena of when she’d been a human. And if the girl had died saving another, rather than fighting for her own life, she would have been made a Guardian, too.
    “Do you still grieve for her?”
    For the girl Irena had admired but hardly knew, or for the opportunity lost in that life? Was there a difference?
    “When I think of her.” Which was not so often, now that fifteen centuries had passed. Time could not always heal, but it could offer distance. “When I have to speak of her.”
    “Then I will not make you speak of her, and will answer the novices’ questions for you.”
    That sounded like protection. Irena didn’t know how to respond.
    And suddenly, she could not. Everything inside her tensed as Alejandro lowered his head, his gaze holding hers. Her heart threatened to hammer through her chest. Slowly, she watched him descend.
    His lips brushed hers, featherlight.
    And she was unbalanced when he almost immediately lifted his head. Why had he—
    It became clear. Her snarl formed on lips he’d barely touched. Was this comfort? He offered her comfort ?
    The first kiss he’d given her—the first kiss he’d taken—and it was nothing more than what she’d bestow on a friend. That was not what she wanted from Olek.
    His dark gaze searched her face. She felt the touch of his mind, seeking out her feelings.
    Did he want to know? She would show him.
    Catching his shoulders, she dragged him down to her lips, and took his mouth as it needed to be taken.
    As she needed to take it.
    He didn’t fight. But he didn’t easily give in—not her Olek. No, he issued a challenge the moment he entered her mouth with a silken thrust of his tongue. The moment he tried to take control.
    Irena wouldn’t let him. Bracing herself on the edge of the table, she wrapped her legs around his hips. She lifted to him and he slid against her, already fiercely aroused, his erection heated steel beneath his trousers. His kiss was wet, hot. She pulled at his hair, wanting more, deeper, now.
    He pushed her back flat against the tabletop and followed her down, his weight heavy between her thighs. Her need burst open. She whipped him around, reversing their positions. When he lay back on the table, she lifted her head and froze.
    Olek’s skin was flushed, his mouth reddened by her kiss. His face was as sharply defined as a newly whetted blade.
    She’d done that to him. A multitude of emotions squeezed at her chest, locking away the words she wanted to find. Words that meant something.
    His hands closed over her shoulders and hauled her back down.
    Yes. His mouth against hers was enough. This was all that needed to be said.
    She came all the way up on the table and straddled his hips, her knees spread wide. She licked the shallow dent in his chin. He rocked up against her core. Her inner muscles clenched with need, yearning to be satisfied, to be filled. She was so hungry. She couldn’t be hungrier, and yet it became sharper with each taste.
    With impatient hands, she ripped his shirt open. A wedge of dark hair shadowed his chest, thinning to a silken line down the center of his stomach. She followed the trail with her fingers. His flesh burned, feverishly hot.
    But nothing like the demon’s. She’d never touched that one. Her hands had remained fisted. Now, her open palms slid over his skin, claiming every inch.
    Mine.
    She took his mouth again. Olek’s hands slid to her ass, pressed her sex tight against his thick erection, grinding up against her. She panted and moved with him. By the gods, she was so wet, so empty. His mouth burned a path down her throat. She sat up and vanished her jacket, her shirt. His lips closed around her nipple. His mouth was hot. Oh, so hot. He licked, sucked. Her back arched and the ripples started, deep, deep.
    She needed him pushing inside her. Needed to have him, to surround him. It would be fast. And hard.
    And long, long overdue.
    “Now, Olek.” Irena vanished her trousers