Master of Smoke

Fluffy. I want him!
    “Cat,” Eva gasped.
    He kept licking, kept raking those sharp teeth across her nipple.
    “Cat!” But he kept right on. “Cat, dammit, stop!”
    He looked up to meet her gaze, his pupils hairline slits across irises of ice blue. “What?”
    She tried to jerk out his arms, only to wince when his urgent hands didn’t release her. “Ouch! Let me go!”
    Instantly, he opened his hands. She scooted back. “I am sorry! Did I hurt you?”
    “No, I’m fine.” She closed her eyes to shut out the panic in his eyes as he started to reach for her, only to pull back. “I’m really sorry.”
    “What’s wrong?” He looked her over anxiously. “Are you sure I did not hurt you?”
    “I said I’m fine, okay?” Between frustrated hunger and her own confusion, the words came out more sharply than she’d intended, and he flinched slightly. Eva rose from the couch and began to pace restlessly, not sure how to put her sudden conviction into words. “Look, this just isn’t going to work.”
    “What do you mean? Talk to me, Eva.” It was a command, half-growled in his deep voice.
    “This doesn’t feel right—making love to you. You’re not David.”
    He blinked and drew back, a flash of pain darting across his eyes. “No. I am Cat.”
    “It’s not that I’m not attracted to you ...”
    “But I’m not human.”
    “No, I mean—” She raked her hair out of her eyes with a growl of frustration. “Fuck, I don’t know what I mean.”
    “Yes, you do.” His mouth twisted. “As you said, I am not David. And David is who you want.”
    She winced, but she had to be honest with him. “Yeah.”
    Cat shook his head. “Eva, if our enemy does not kill us, sooner or later we’ll be one again. Will you think we are not David enough then?”
    Eva stared at him, feeling a little sick. “I don’t ...”
    “Very well,” Cat said, lifting his chin. “If you want David, you will have him.”
    “Look, I only meant ...” Before she could say anything more, his body arched in a bow of pain. His eyes rolled back, hands curling into helpless claws.
    “Cat!” She jumped forward, managing to grab him just before he convulsed his way right off the couch. For a moment, it was all she could do to contain the furious lash of his big body, even with her were strength.
    Abruptly he went limp in her arms with a weak groan.
    Fear chilled her. “Cat? Cat, are you ...”
    His eyes opened to look at her in dazed confusion. “Eva?”
    As she gazed into his handsome face, she realized David was back.
    Cat had indeed brought him back to the surface for her.
    NINE
    By the time Eva finished telling David everything that had happened, her mouth was dry, though they’d worked their way through the bottle of wine. She’d carefully left out Cat’s attempts to seduce her, as well as his parting shot about what would happen when the three personalities were reunited.
    David saw the implications anyway.
    “What you’re saying is that I am a fragment.” He took a long, deliberate sip of his wine. “If I survive Warlock’s attempts to kill me, eventually the others will return. And since one of them is a god, I may cease to exist as myself at all.”
    “David, I ...” She trailed off, staring at his expressionless profile, feeling helpless. Until, on sheer impulse, she leaned forward and caught his chin, turning his face to hers.
    The kiss started out slow and flavored with pain, until David’s arms closed hard around her. He dragged her close, his mouth going fierce against hers, kisses almost like bites, his tongue thrusting and swirling. She felt her senses spin.
    Her body ignited in a blaze of heat that made her throw her head back to gasp. He promptly trailed kisses down the line of her throat, pausing to use his teeth and tongue against her banging pulse. Impatient hands caught the hem of her shirt and jerked it upward. She drew back eagerly, raising her arms to let him drag it off over her head. The tee went sailing across the room as David hooked two fingers in the top of her bra and pulled the cup down. Her nipple jutted into the cool air an instant before he engulfed it in the wet, eager heat of his mouth. His tongue swirled over and around the tip. He sucked hard, and she groaned, threading her hands into his hair, tracing the delicate points of his ears.
    Hands closed around her waist, pulling her over into his lap. She caught her breath at the feel of his erection, thick and hot under her