FREE NOVELLA CHAPTER Demon Heart Chapter Eight
Demon Heart by Kiss Carson
Copyright 2020
CHAPTER EIGHT
Warmth wrapped around Dominique like a thick woolen blanket. Sunlight cascaded from the sky, pure and bright. She came wide-awake to find her back pressed into Gagan’s soft fur. His massive paws folded around her and Zachary, who lay on his side with his eyes closed and Gagan’s front leg had become his pillow. Either he slept peacefully, or he’d fallen victim to the same blast of energy that had rendered her unconscious.
She drew in a deep breath. Her chest still ached. Dominique rubbed the spot between her breasts where she thought the other two Hope Stone shards lived. After that experience she wished she’d been given the chance to choose her destiny. Of course, she would have taken the road more traveled, the route of sunshine, kittens and chocolate. If given the chance again she would shove Zachary Sterling and his team of demon enemies right back into her computer screen.
Dominique studied Zachary's serene expression. On second thought, maybe she would give him the benefit of the doubt again. Her gaze lowered to his hands – a man’s hands, sturdy and capable. Carefully, she touched his fingers. All death and destruction aside, she could see Zachary in her life, by her side, loving her. She touched his cheek, ran her finger along his three day growth. Zachary didn’t move. She could kiss him quickly...She hesitated, leaned in, and hesitated again. He smelled wonderful, like the first drops of rain after a hot day.
Suddenly, Zachary's arms clamped around her. Dominique let out a strangled cry and pushed away with her hands on his chest. Humor shone from his eyes, and he rolled until he lay over her, heavy, and very real. Every centimetre of him touched her from his feet to his shoulders. Soft breath fanned her mouth. Her eyes locked with his. She wanted to demand he get off but couldn’t. Not when he felt so good. Her breaths came faster, her heart torn between loyalty of old and the will to move forward.
“Your heart is pounding,” Zachary said.
“Well, I’ve just been through an ordeal.”
“You are not putting up much of a fight for release.”
“That’s because you’re lying on top of me. Do you have any idea how heavy you are?” Dominique scanned his face. Except for an indefinable spark in his grey eyes his expression remained relaxed.
Zachary rolled from her and stood, extending his hand. She accepted his help and once on her feet, she dusted snow from her vinyl suit. She thought she would never enjoy a man’s company again. Now, a man had come along who may just change her mind. To remind her that happiness always came with a price, the photograph tucked into her bra scratched her breast. All thoughts of sharing another man’s company left her mind and she headed toward the cabin. She stopped in the doorway to survey the smashed furniture and general upheaval. With a sigh, she stepped further into the cabin and picked up a toppled chair.
Zachary took the chair from her and placed it right side up. “Sit down, Domini.”
“Don’t you want me to help tidy up?”
Zachary shook his head as he righted the table. “This is not your doing.”
A man who cleaned up after himself? One day, he would make a very agreeable husband for one lucky woman. Wait! She was that woman. Zachary was her husband—in Demon Realm, anyway. Without an ounce of guilt, she sat on the chair and watched him clean. To make the experience more pleasurable he removed his flowing black coat. The black t-shirt he wore stretched across his shoulders and chest to accentuate each curve of muscle. He made cleaning sexy. Her gaze lowered to his thighs. The image of his naked body in Oasis filled her mind.
Dominique shifted on the chair. Surely fantasizing wasn’t healthy for a widow. She needed to keep Jaye’s memory strong, her thoughts of him constant. However, the more time she spent with Zachary, the more distant Jaye became. She noticed the new sword in the scabbard Zachary placed on the table. Swirls of gold formed the hilt.
“Where did you get the new sword?”
Zachary paused and looked at the weapon. “My mother,” he replied. “This was my father’s sword.”
“Where is your father?”
Zachary's grey eyes remained unreadable. He leaned on the edge of the table and folded his arms. “Dead,” he told her with little emotion. “Ten years ago, now.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
He picked up a chair and placed it on its feet with a thump. “I’m not.”
Dominique raised her eyebrows at his blunt answer. “Where’s your mother?”
“Also dead.”
Dominique pointed to the sword. “But you just said…”
“Chana was behind the door you opened with the Hope Stone fragment. She gave me Aemon’s sword and told me to protect you.”
His words surprised her. Why would his dead mother want him to protect her? “So, what happens now?”
“I will protect you.”
* * * *
Zachary sharpened his daggers at the square table where, as a child, he’d shared many meals with his mother and Isha. He owned sixteen daggers in total. Seventeen including the weapon hanging from Domini's belt, and he had used every single one. Behind him, Domini plundered the cupboards for something decent to eat. He glanced to where she kneeled on the floor, her head and shoulders lost inside the pantry. She muttered a few indecipherable words and leaned further in until the vinyl of her suit molded to her rounded posterior. Mercy Stone.
The prophets definitely challenged him this time. They sent him temptation, not a solution. Eyes like emeralds. Hair the color of exotic spices. Zachary rubbed a hand over his face. Curves to seduce the most chastely demon. He turned back to his sharpening stone but couldn’t concentrate. The distract his wayward thoughts from Domini's more than obvious assets he pulled a cast iron tub from the corner of the room and set it in front of the fire.
Domini's interest veered from the pantry and she joined him at the tub, running her finger along the dusty rim. “That’s one big tub.”
He tugged a yellow bottle from his belt. If this trick didn’t impress her, he didn’t know what would. He uncorked the bottle. Domini moved closer until her arm rested against his, her green eyes curious. He tipped the bottle. A single drop of liquid landed in the bathtub with a tiny splat. The bead of fluid trembled, and then grew. A fountain erupted from the middle of the tub and expanded until apple scented water whirled around the bath.
Domini's smile widened and she dipped a finger in. “Nice and warm. I’ll have to bring the dressing screen closer to the bath so I can change.”
“Allow me.”
“Do you have something I can wear to bed?” Domini asked. “I don’t want to sleep naked again.”
Zachary paused. He had no idea she’d slept naked. He would never have slumbered so soundly. Delving into a trunk hidden in the shadows, he pulled out a white shirt. Now three sizes too small, the button front shirt would fit Domini perfectly. She plucked the shirt from his fingers. His gaze dropped to the silky flesh just visible above the partially lowered zipper. At Oasis she had thrown herself at him, and if memory served him correctly, he’d denied her. Now, he wanted to feel her softness, to lose himself in her affections. Or to remember what really happened that evening at Oasis.
Domini disappeared behind the threadbare screen. “I’ve found a couple of lanterns but there are no matches.”
“Blow on them,” Zachary replied. “Blow on. Blow off.”
Domini's sly chuckle whispered around the cabin. “I won’t take that the wrong way.”
Zachary didn’t understand why she found the most mundane conversation funny. First beans, now blowing. Behind him, the cabin brightened. “Is everything to your liking?” he asked.
“Yes, thank you. Now, you go and amuse yourself. I won’t be long. After what happened today, I need a good soak.”
Zachary sat on the wooden chair and propped his booted feet on the table. Slowly, he ran his sharpening stone along the dagger’s blade. The buzz of a zipper came from behind the screen. He hesitated from sharpening. Domini's silhouette on the thin material of the screen showed her every movement. She peeled the suit away and shifted slightly. The shadow of perfect breasts lifted as she unfastened her hair. She turned to the tub. A slim waist flared into rounded hips. He would remember if he had loved such an alluring body. To have those long, lithe legs wrapped around his hips would be a memory he would never forget. Lost in his thoughts, he dropped the sharpening stone. It rolled under the screen and stopped to rest against the tub with a clang.
“What was that?” Domini asked.
“My sharpening stone.”
“Are you coming to get it?”
Zachary stared at the screen. Could he trust himself to get close and not touch? “Do you mind?”
“Nah. Come on in.”
Zachary stood. The scent of green apples, sweet and fresh, surrounded him. Cautiously, he approached the tub. Domini reclined back, her expression calm. Bubbles floated randomly across the surface of the water and strategically covered her femininity. Only her bare knees poked through the bubbles. He dared to look at her for a little longer, to study her smooth skin and the way tentacles of hair clung to her neck and shoulders.
“Have you found it?”
Zachary scanned the floor and spied the rectangle shaped rock on the floor directly below her head. “Yes.” He retrieved the stone, his eyes meeting sparkling green orbs as he slowly rose to stand over her. Domini's gaze followed the lines of his shoulders before moving to his face. Her lips parted to allow a shaky sigh escape.
As he walked from the makeshift bathing space, he glanced back. Domini looked at him with such longing that he almost turned around again. If he had stripped naked and lowered into the tub with her, he doubted a word of protest would have left her lips.
Comments