The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

the chamber. “Twice. I commanded you to retrieve this mortal’s soul and bring it to me. But you failed.”
    “Yes, my Queen.” Lilin wanted to rush to explain what had happened this second time - the interruption that broke her hold on Archer - but she bit her tongue knowing that would gain her a worse punishment.
    A dangerous growl rose within Rusalka’s throat. “Fail again and I shall see you suffer a mortal’s life.”
    Before Lilin could stop herself, her head shot up. “Mortal? As in human?”
    Queen Rusalka narrowed her black eyes. “You dare to question me, Succubus?”
    Lilin lowered her gaze. “Of course not, my Queen. I shall take Archer Dane’s soul. Tonight.”
Three
    Archer stood at his wet bar with a shot of whiskey in one hand, the bottle in the other. What happened to him last night and this morning? The more he thought of it, the more absurd it seemed. Christ. Last night he had even imagined this Lilin woman had wings.
    He swore he could still taste the sweetness of her mouth on his tongue, smell the rain-washed scent of her hair and her musk on his fingers.
    In one swallow he downed the whiskey, then poured another shot as the drink burned his throat and warmed his chest. If he was going to lose his rnind, he might as well do a good job of it.
    He downed the second shot and turned towards his fireplace - and almost dropped the bottle.
    Lilin stood inches from him, her wings slowly opening and closing. With his hands full, he had no chance to react as she reached up, wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him to her for another earth-shattering kiss.
    Something about her kiss drove all thought straight from his brain. She teased him with her tongue, darting it inside his mouth and drawing it out again. She nibbled his lower lip and he groaned. Then she pulled him down so that his knees landed on a throw rug on the hardwood floor.
    Damned if his knees hadn’t been giving out on him anyway. When they were kneeling, never breaking their kiss, Archer set the shot glass and the bottle to either side of them. As soon as his hands were free, he tried pushing her to the floor, but she took control and rolled him onto his back so that she was on top.
    Her pelvis rubbed against the front of his jeans in a slow, tantalizing movement. At the same time she purred and nibbled his lower lip.
    Archer groaned and cupped her breasts, perfect and soft with large, hard nipples pressing against his palms. Lilin moaned and rose up enough that Archer could suckle one breast then the other. Her skin tasted unlike any woman he’d known. Just like the exotic scent of her hair.
    Definitely too many clothes on him. Lilin - she was perfect. Perfectly naked.
    The fact he was kissing a strange woman who’d appeared and disappeared in and out of his life - and freaking had wings - barely registered as she moved her mouth to his ear and darted her tongue inside. “I want you, Archer.”
    He groaned, moved his hands from her breasts and felt for her wings. They were gone. All he felt was the smooth skin of her back. He continued on, skimming her flesh to her hips then cupped her bottom.
    Lilin licked a path from his ear, along his stubbled jaw, to the base of his throat. She unbuttoned his shirt and tugged it out of his waistband so that his chest was bare. Her hands never stopped exploring him. Her touch - magic. Every place on his skin that she caressed sparked as if a small electrical charge ran through him.
    Her mouth, her tongue . . . He wrapped his hands in her silky hair and gripped it in his fists as she worked her way down his chest, kissing, licking, nipping his skin. He hissed and she gave a soft laugh. Like wind chimes.
    Lilin continued, her tongue tracing a path from his abs to the top button of his jeans. She unbuttoned them and tugged the zipper. He didn’t wear underwear and she made a sound of pleasure as she released him.
    A growl rose in his chest as he clenched his hands in her hair as she took him in her mouth. God, he was flying. His body wasn’t his own. It belonged to Lilin, a woman he didn’t even know.
    The thought jarred him a fraction of a second before she took even more of him inside her warm mouth.
    She dug her fingers into the sides of his jeans and dragged them down. He reluctantly let go of her hair while she tugged off each of his boots then stripped off his socks and his jeans. He rose and ditched his shirt, leaving nothing but skin against skin as she crawled back up