Page 17 of One Silent Night (Dark-Hunter 15)
CHAPTER 7
STRYKER SUCKED HIS BREATH IN SHARPLY AS Zephyra leaned down to look into the sfora. She smelled so good, it literally made his mouth water. She traced the clouds with one long fingernail. Chills rose on his body as he imagined her running it over his skin. He was so hard and needy that it was all he could do not to grab her and pull her close.
She would kill him if he tried. Not to mention he'd never once rough-handled her. Men he would gut without hesitation, even many women, but when it came to her . . . he wasn't sure if he could ever hurt the woman he'd loved so much.
Zephyra froze as she became aware of the sudden bulge in Stryker's pants. The subtle changes to his breathing. She couldn't remember the last time she'd taken a lover. But the experience had been poor enough that she'd decided she'd rather take matters into her own hands than be disappointed again.
Stryker had never once disappointed her. He'd been more than just a skilled lover. He'd been a considerate one.
Swallowing, she pulled back. At least until her gaze fell to his lips.
"I've missed you, too," she breathed before she could stop herself.
Stryker froze. Those simple words seared him as he saw the way her eyes darkened. Unable to stand it, he pulled her toward him so that he could kiss her. The moment her lips touched his and her tongue swept across his teeth, he was blinded by need. Blinded by memories so sweet and precious that he'd never thought to experience them again.
Pulling her into his lap, he growled at how good she felt there. She was so tiny that she weighed next to nothing. The scent of her skin intoxicated him.
Zephyra groaned at how good he tasted. At how strong he felt and how hard his lean body was. She hated how much she'd missed this.
How much she'd missed him. But there was no denying it.
Eleven thousand years later, the man still set her senses on fire.
Needing him with a fury she didn't want to understand, she straddled his lap and leaned back long enough to jerk his shirt over his head.
One corner of his mouth quirked up into a teasing smile.
She placed her fingertip over his lips. "One single word and I swear I'll rip your tongue out."
"So I haven't won you over?"
She dropped his shirt to the floor. "This isn't about winning anything. It's about lust. I want you completely out of my system."
"You think this will do it?"
"As soon as I realize how bad you suck in bed, I'll never want to touch you again."
He laughed as he rose up with her wrapped around him, then leaned her back against his desk. "Oh, baby, I've never in my life sucked in bed."
She scoffed even though she knew from experience that he'd never disappointed her. Hopefully, though, his streak would end and he'd have gotten worse with age . . .
He dipped his head down to hers to kiss her again as he ran his hand over her body. She shivered in plea sure, especially as she felt the size of his bulge between her legs. She wanted him desperately.
Stryker reached for the button on her top at the same moment something struck his door. Frowning, he looked up to see the doors clatter open. Davyn hit the floor in a bloody heap before a group of twenty demons came through the threshold.
"Knock, knock," Kessar snarled. "Looks like there's a new power in town and it ain't you."
Stryker stepped back and pulled Zephyra from the desk. Returning his shirt to his body with his powers, he placed himself between Zephyra and the demon. "What the hell's going on?"
"Natural selection." Kessar blasted him.
Stryker hissed as pain flooded his body. But he wasn't a callow youth unused to battle. Summoning his black body armor, he upturned his desk and blasted it toward the demon. Kessar ducked before he sent another blast at Stryker, who returned it with one of his own. Their powers tangled in an arc of sizzling color. But every heartbeat he blasted cost him physically. He could feel his strength draining, and given the number of demons coming in, a depleted Daimon was a dead one.
"Run, Phyra," he ordered her over his shoulder.
"Not without you." Before he could stop her, she added her own blast to the demons', driving them back. "We need to get out of here. Now," she said.
Stryker looked to where Davyn was still unconscious on the floor. "We have to get Davyn out."
"Let him die."
"I don't leave my men behind." At least not the ones who were actually loyal to him. The ones like Desiderius who had questionable loyalty he was more than quick to sacrifice. But Davyn had never given him any reason to doubt his ser vice, and for those men Stryker would die to protect them.
She growled at him, "Get him and hurry."
The moment he moved toward Davyn, Kessar attacked. He caught Stryker about the waist and threw him to the ground. He cursed, kicking Kessar back. "You snide halitosis-breathing worthless shit sack. Get off me."
One of the other demons came at him. Stryker ducked and caught sight of Zephyra pinning one to the ground. "Don't let them bite you. You'll become one of them if they do."
She laughed evilly as her eyes changed to a bright yellow laced with red. "You're a little late with your warning." She caught the demon closest to her and twisted his arm off. He dropped to the ground screaming before she stabbed him between his eyes and killed him. "Been there, done that, and am craving their blood more than they're craving mine."
Kessar and the others pulled back as they realized they were dealing with something more than just a regular Daimon.
"Got your buddy?" Her snide tone irritated Stryker.
Stryker lifted Davyn up from the floor and slung him over his shoulder. "I don't run from crackheads like this." He started after Kessar, then paused as he realized the hallway was littered with the bodies of his Daimon army. "What the hell is going on?"
"They're converting your Daimons to demons. If you want to live, you better get out of here."
"I don't retreat."
She grabbed him and forced him to face her. "Everyone retreats sometimes. Open the portal and get us out of here. Now!"
Stryker growled before he obeyed her. Until they knew better what was going on, he would listen to her even though he didn't want to.
She pulled him out of Kalosis back to her temple, where Medea was. They appeared in Medea's room, where their daughter was sitting at her computer.
"Put him on the bed," Zephyra ordered Stryker.
"Excuse me?" Medea looked horrified by the prospect as she rose to her feet. "I don't want an unknown man in my bed."
"Those words do a father proud. Thank you for raising her right." He flipped Davyn onto the pink coverlet and left him there.
Zephyra scoffed. "Don't start on me. I might rethink tossing you back in with the demons."
Stryker straightened to look at her. "Which brings me to the question of the hour. What exactly are you now?"
She let out a long breath before she answered. "Well, besides pissed, I'm part demon."
Those words chilled him. She seemed so normal and yet . . . with demon blood in her, there was a lot she could be capable of. "How?"
She shrugged. "I was bitten by a gallu-the same one who owned Jared. He thought to make me his mindless sycophant, and what he learned is that I'm a lot stronger than I look. I killed the bastard."
Medea sighed. "Why don't you tell him the truth, Mum?"
"Truth?" Stryker asked with a frown.
Zephyra cursed as she glared at her daughter. Her eyes snapping fire, she turned toward Stryker. "Fine. I traded my humanity so that Medea would live longer than her twenty-seventh birthday."
"What are you talking about?"
