He’d wanted only her pleasure.

Sam slid his hand right over the tight center of her need, and Seline came. This time, she yelled his name.

Her body was limp and so sated Seline really didn’t want to move for at least a week.

Her heartbeat slowly stopped its frantic racing. The bed squeaked as Sam pulled her close. Sam.

She turned and stared at him. The faintest rays of light were starting to spill through the blinds, but most of the room was still cloaked in darkness “You didn’t . . .”

“You’re not an addiction.” There was no mistaking the rasp of lust in his voice. “You’re . . . mine.”

She didn’t know what to say.

Then she’d realized what he’d done. Sex with a succubus. But no pleasure for him. Only her.

She blinked quickly, afraid she’d do something weak and human like cry. “Sam, I want you.”

She felt the weight of his stare. “You’re not an abomination,” he told her, and she heard the echoes of anger in his words.

Good thing it was dark. She wasn’t sure she wanted him to see her now.

“I don’t care who your parents were—or what they were,” Sam said.

She cared. “My father took too much from my mother. He drained her.” Killed her.

“Then Rogziel killed him?”

“Punishment,” she whispered, and her hand pressed over Sam’s heart.

He swore. “How long has Rogziel been playing God?”

She blinked. “Wh-what?”

He caught her hands. More light spilled through the blinds. Dawn. “You don’t know much about your demon side, do you?”

No. Not her demon side or her angel blood.

“A succubus and an incubus can only have a child with a true mate. If they could have kids with just anyone, don’t you think the world would be exploding with little incubi and succubi by now?”

Yes. It would be, but there weren’t many of her kind. “You’re saying we . . . mate?” Like wolf shifters? Like . . . forever?

“I’m saying you can only have kids with the person you choose as a life-mate. That’s forever. That’s bonding.” He exhaled. “And a mate wouldn’t take enough power to kill. Sure, an incubus could drain others, but it’s real unlikely—next to f**king impossible—that he’d drain the one woman he loved.”

Her head started to throb. An engine growled outside. “What are you telling me?”

“I’m saying that I think Rogziel fed you a load of bull. Your father didn’t kill your mother.”

She rose from the bed and dressed with hands that were too steady. They should be shaking. She should be shaking. “Then who did?” All her life, she’d thought her father had destroyed her mother.

“When we get Rogziel, we’ll find out.”

No, no, this isn’t possible. “You’re wrong. My father killed her. He lost control, and he drained—”

“Mates share power. They don’t take.”

Seline blinked. She’d shared power with Sam. Fear tightened her belly. Did that mean he was hers?

Footsteps pounded below. Sam was on his feet now and in front of her. He stared into her eyes. “Whatever happens, remember . . . I don’t care what shit Rogziel told you, you aren’t an abomination. You aren’t evil.” His gaze narrowed. “But, sweetheart, you are damn well mine.”

She was very much afraid that he might be hers.

When did this happen? When did I start to fall so hard for him? Had she been trying to bind them from the beginning?

There was so much she didn’t know. No, much she hadn’t been told because of Rogziel.

“Sam . . .”

But he stiffened and his head jerked toward the door. She saw the slight flare of his nostrils. “That’s not Keenan and his vampire.” Anger roughed his voice.

“Sam?”

He lunged forward. Seline rushed right behind him.

And from the top of the stairs, Seline saw who waited for them just inside the inn’s doorway. Waited with a grim smile curving his lips.

Az.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“Hello, brother,” Az called, raising his brows. “Figured

I’d find you here.”

Sam shoved back the rage and slowly climbed down the stairs. He was too aware of Seline behind him.

“My memory grows stronger every day,” Az said, and Sam saw the hardness in his stare. “I remembered how much you liked to hide here. Hide, and hunt.”

Sam reached the foot of the stairs. Attack. His control was razor thin. “Enjoying your new life? I certainly hope you have been . . . because it will be over soon.”