“Let me see that,” another voice commanded.
No. No, no, no. Not anyone but Sirena, he corrected. Not his father.
Another shadow. Another laugh, this one deep, rumbling. “It certainly is. His woman must be sick. He must be trying to save her.”
Pop. The cork fell to the floor and rolled just in front of him.
“Please,” Koldo said, willing to beg.
Sirena’s stiletto dug ever deeper.
“Oh, how I like that word on your lips,” Nox said—just before pouring the precious liquid on the floor.
No. No! After everything he’d suffered—everything he would soon suffer at his father’s hand—Laila’s chance was wasted. He squeezed his eyes closed. He could do this again, and he would, but it might be too late.
The Water splashed over Koldo’s face, cool and soothing, but he pressed his lips tightly together, not allowing a single drop into his mouth. He wasn’t to partake of the Water until his back was totally healed. To do so now was to suffer, unhealed, for all eternity.
Nox dropped to his knees, anchored his hand under Koldo’s chin and forced him to look up. “We’re going to have fun, you and I.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
THANE LEFT THE HUMAN he’d just pleasured slumped on the floor of the bathroom stall and entered the nightclub. The things he’d just done to her...the things she’d asked him to do... She was his third female that night. His eighth in the past three days. Usually he could control his desires. But here, this week, the more females he’d bedded, the more he’d wanted, even needed. Sex had become all he could think about.
He’d stopped hunting the demons entirely.
Something was wrong with him—and yet still he wanted another female. He wasn’t sure his body could take it, however. His head was fogged, his limbs trembling.
A strobe light cast colorful rays over the dance floor. Loud, pounding rock music blasted from speakers, and bodies writhed all around, blurring together. Multiple perfumes and colognes scented the air, creating a sickening collage. He stalked from the building and the heat and into the cool of the night.
Pebbles along the sidewalk caused him to trip. The moon was a mere sliver, the sky dark, and only a few stars were visible. There were streetlamps, but the beams were weak, highlighting only small circles.
Currently, his wings were hidden in an air pocket. His robe conformed to his body in the shape of a T-shirt and pants, both black. A wave of dizziness hit him as he continued to surge forward, and he had to lean against the side of a building to remain upright.
Bjorn, Xerxes, he projected. He hadn’t spoken to them since...his first few days in Auckland, he realized with a frown. That wasn’t like him. That wasn’t like them. Why hadn’t they at least tried to converse with him?
They would come here and they would pull him out of this spiral. The three of them would track the demons together. Fight together. Win together.
Silence.
His frown deepened. They would never ignore him. They loved him.
Something had to be wrong with them, too.
“Hey, you,” a female voice called.
He stopped at the entrance of a back alley and turned only because he recognized the voice. It was the woman he’d left in the bathroom. She looked different vertical. Her clothes were mussed, wrinkled, and her dark hair in the same condition. Brown eyes sparkled with excitement. Color was bright in her cheeks.
A sense of foreboding hit him as he struggled to concentrate on her.
“You left something behind,” she said, almost within reach. She held out her arm, her fist closed.
A feather? “Show me.”
Slowly her fingers uncurled. But...nothing rested on her palm.
“And that is?”
A smile curved the corners of her lips. “Your pride.”
Anger slammed through him. He had been judged one too many times lately. “What of yours? I spoke only five words to you before you went to that bathroom stall with me.”
Her amusement only increased. “Want to know a closely guarded secret of the Phoenix, Sent One? We can become anyone.” As she spoke, her countenance morphed. Dark hair became gold and scarlet. Brown eyes became green. Rounded ears developed points at the end. Human teeth grew fangs.
The Phoenix.
His Phoenix. Kendra.
A second later, her image changed again. To the female he’d bedded earlier today. A second later, her image changed again. To the female he’d bedded before that. Another change. The female he’d bedded last night. On and on she morphed her appearance, until he saw all eight of the supposedly human females he’d taken.
He swallowed a mouthful of dark curses. “How did you know where I’d go?”
“I didn’t. I followed you.” She flicked her hair over her shoulder. “But you didn’t know, did you, and didn’t have any idea. That’s not very soldierly of you, now, is it?”
Stealthily he reached behind him, into the air pocket he kept tied to his waist. His fingers closed around the hilt of a dagger.
“You took me back to my people, and they forced me to wed a warrior. But I ran away the morning after the ceremony and used the cash I’d stashed away to have my slave bands removed. There are people who specialize in that, you know.”
“Your husband will come for you.”
“Yes. He’ll come for you, too.” A tinkling laugh. “Want to know another well-guarded secret of the Phoenix? When we aren’t slaves, we can enslave. Every time you slept with me these past few days, your need for me increased. Didn’t it?”
The anger budded into sharp, jagged rage. She wanted him addicted to her body. He’d been a prisoner before, and he’d vowed never to endure such a hell again. Had vowed to destroy anyone who even tried.
He always kept his vows.
He didn’t give himself time to think about his actions and how low he was about to sink—or the punishment he might face. He didn’t waste time threatening the girl. Threats obviously wouldn’t work with her.
“I’m no one’s slave,” he said.
And he struck.
In seconds, the tip of his dagger was embedded in her chest. Her eyes widened with...not confusion and pain, as he’d expected, but with glee.
“Thank you,” she gasped out. “That was easier than I thought.”
Her knees gave out, and she collapsed to the ground. She lay there, panting for breath, red blood spilling from her, her heartbeat no longer saving her, but killing her, pumping and pumping and pumping the life from her body.