Rusted Veins: A Sabina Kane Novella (3 page)

He touched my elbow. “May I speak to you?”

I knew if I agreed, he’d talk me into it. He’d remind me that I was a good person, not some petty shrew who let jealousy rule her actions. But the shock of finding out Brooks’s waitress was the same woman Adam had planned to spend the rest of his life with before I came into the picture hadn’t worn off. I wanted to wallow in it a little while. I shook my head at his request. “I’m feeling exhausted all of a sudden. I’m going home.” Before he could respond, I turned to Erron. “Thanks for the drinks.”

And with that, I used magic to flash out of the house before anyone could argue with me.

About two seconds after I flashed into our bedroom, Adam followed. That was the sucky part about being in love with a mage. “I knew I should have gone somewhere else.” I started to flash out again, but he grabbed my arm.

“Don’t. We need to talk.”

I shook my head. “We can talk about it tomorrow.”

He crossed his arms and raised that infuriating eyebrow. “Now, Sabina.”

The old me would have been yelling and pacing around the room. But the problem with growing up and gaining some self-awareness was being able to recognize when you were acting like a brat. “I know it’s stupid.”

He sighed and took my hand in his. “Not really.”

I jerked my gaze toward his. “Really?”

“I’ve had to deal with one of your exes, too, remember?”

I wasn’t eager to talk about how I’d almost ruined my chances with Adam before we really even got started by briefly reigniting an old flame with Slade Corbin. Time for a change of subject. “I just don’t see why we have to be the ones to find her.”

“Because our friend asked us.”

My shoulders dropped. I knew he was right, but I was so exhausted I wasn’t ready to think about jumping into the drama. His hand caressed mine in a soothing motion.

“I hate that this happened tonight.” He moved closer, wrapping his arms around my waist. I stayed stiff but didn’t fight him off. “You’ve been gone so long and I was looking forward to an enthusiastic homecoming celebration.” His forehead tipped to touch mine.

“Don’t,” I said. “Don’t try to seduce me into feeling better.”

What I really meant was I didn’t want any sort of gentle lovemaking. I knew it wasn’t his fault Cadence McShane had reentered our lives, but the petty part of me wanted to punish him for daring to love someone before I came along.

I’d been quiet for so long, he mistook my lack of encouragement as rejection. He began to pull away, but I grabbed his lapels and pulled him in for a punishing kiss. Unlike our passionate joining of lips when I’d first arrived earlier, this was a clash of tongues and lips and teeth. Despite the nips of pain, it was no less arousing.

I pushed him back toward the bed. He didn’t struggle. Smart of him. If he wanted my forgiveness, he was going to have to let me take the lead this time. I wasn’t interested in timidly lying back while he worshipped my body. I wanted to brand him with my body. Remind him that he belonged to me and me alone.

He fell back onto the mattress. The hem of his shirt folded back, revealing the flat, muscled planes of his stomach and those twin hip indentations that just begged to be nipped with my fangs.

I ripped his shirt open with a flick of my wrists. His eyes widened but heat sizzled from the depths. It had been so long since I’d pressed my skin to his, felt his hardness against my soft parts. Part of me wanted to relent my plan to punish and just curl up on him like a cat for some heavy petting. But I steeled my spine and slowly began unbuttoning my shirt inch by agonizing inch.

I was going to make him beg for it before the night was over. When I pulled my shirt open, he whimpered at the sight. I stuck a finger between my lips and got it nice and wet before dragging a trail from my collarbone down to the waistband of my low-slung jeans. “Want to see more?”

He swallowed hard. “Oh yes.”

“Too bad.”

His lips pressed together. “I see how it is.”

“Do you?” I flung off his boots and socks. Then I ran my hands slowly up the legs of his jeans. Under the thick denim I could feel the corded muscles of his shins and thighs. I’d felt those muscles flex over me more times than I could count. I’d opened my thighs over and over so he could thrust into me. Had he done that with 
her
, too?

“Ow.”

I pulled back, belatedly realizing my caress of his balls had gotten a little…pinchy. “Sorry,” I lied.

He shifted uneasily. I patted him gently. “Sorry.”

He visibly unclenched and settled back into the mattress. “I’d feel a lot better if you didn’t have any pants on.”

I smiled. “You first.” With a couple of flicks, I had his fly unbuttoned and the zipper down. Soon, the denim slid down his legs to reveal the muscles I’d touched earlier. The deep 
V
 of his hips, the hard ridges of his quads, the crisp golden hair on his shins—hell, even his feet were sexy. No doubt about it, even after all these years, he still did it for me. No other man had ever held my attention long enough or so thoroughly. And I certainly never could have imagined that a man as solid and well adjusted as Adam Lazarus would choose me as his life partner.

“Tell me you love me.” I hated the neediness in my tone. I hated that I still craved reassurance after all this time. I was a freaking demigoddess, but this man had the power to bring me to my knees. He could strip me totally bare and destroy me with a single word.

He sat upright and reached for my stiff fingers. “Look at me.” I swallowed and complied, even though part of me couldn’t handle the intimacy because I knew he’d see the insecurity. “Sabina Kane, you are the love of my life. No one else matters. No one else even came close to what I feel for you.”

I looked away. The words were nice and I believed him, but I still felt like crap.

He pulled me down to sit next to him. “Listen, why don’t you just let me handle this situation? I’ll help Brooks and you don’t even need to be around Cadence if we find her.”

I shook my head immediately. “Absolutely not. I’m not a wimp.”

“I know that more than anyone else on this planet.” He smiled ruefully, no doubt recalling all of our adventures and battles. “So what’s the problem?”

I fought saying the truth because I knew it made me sound like an idiot. But he knew me too well to get away with a white lie. Time to come clean. “What if you see her and suddenly all those feelings come back?”

“Ah,” he said.

“Ah what?”

He turned toward me. It was kind of hard to focus on his face with that gorgeous display of masculinity so close I could touch it and taste it. “You know what we have isn’t normal, right?”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I know you never had a long-term relationship before you met me, so maybe you think this thing between us—this intensity—is normal. That all people in love feel it.”

I nodded. “Don’t they?”

He laughed. “Some people who love each other can’t even stand to be in the same room for too long, much less sit within two feet of each other without wishing they could rip each other’s clothes off.”

My brows rose, realizing the need I felt was also shining in his eyes. “So you didn’t feel that way with Cadence?”

He shook his head. “I loved her, but it was different. I didn’t realize at the time that it wasn’t an all-consuming love. More of a tenderness.”

The idea of Adam being tender with anyone but me made me want to put my fist through a wall—or my fangs through a jugular.

He held up his hands. “I can’t believe you’re acting so jealous. After all we’ve been through?” His fingers found the ring on the middle finger of my right hand. The one he’d given me the night he’d asked me to be his soul mate. Not a proposal in the traditional sense, but a vow to spend our lives together nonetheless. My shoulders softened as I remembered that night in Tuscany when we’d whispered promises to each other, neither sure we’d survive the next day, much less the rest of eternity, together.

Who was I kidding? What Adam and I had was real. 
Real
 real. I may not have loved a lot of people in my life, but I knew us. Nothing under heaven or earth would rip me away from this man, not even death—I’d for damned sure find a way to haunt him. And I had every reason to believe he felt the same for me. “I’m sorry,” I said finally.

He frowned. “For what?”

“Not giving you enough credit. It’s just the thought of you with someone else makes me feel a little insane.”

His hands cupped my cheeks. “Trust me—I know exactly how that feels.” I cringed a little, remembering him having to deal with this—and worse—when the Slade issue had come up.

“All right,” I said, “so we’re both fools where the other is concerned.”

“Exactly.” That crooked smile that always drove me crazy appeared on his full lips. “Now where were we?”

I stepped between his legs and placed my hands on his shoulders. “Somewhere around here.”

He leaned forward and kissed my stomach. His hands came up to circle my wrists with a firm grip. He whispered against my skin, “Lose the pants.”

And for the next several hours I complied to that and many other requests with relish.

OCTOBER 28

The next evening I stumbled downstairs to grab some coffee before setting out on the Cadence hunt. But when I got to the kitchen, I walked through the door and almost turned to walk right back out.

“Sabina!” Valva called from the massive table on the far side of the room. It wasn’t the demon’s presence that made me yearn for retreat, but the demon children surrounding her. Dinnertime for the five demonlings was a horror I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemies. “Giguhl said you were back. Come tell me about your trip.”

I sighed and continued into the room. Valva was…persistent. Better to get this over with now than face a tantrum. Vanity demons could be pretty touchy. “It was okay.”

Because of the disturbing sounds coming from the table, I opted to busy myself with making a pot of coffee instead of joining them. Even though Giguhl had yet to wean the little bastards, they still required a steady diet of raw meat. Demon babies are born with predator’s teeth, so chewing wasn’t a problem. A side of beef was lying on the table while the kids dug in like a pride of lions going after a gazelle. Only less civilized.

“Aynis, stop biting your sister,” Valva chided. Then she turned back toward me with the forced smile of a tired mom. Although, unlike most moms, she had golden skin and a peacock tail that twitched whenever one of her kids shrieked over a bit of gristle. “So what’s your deal, anyway?”

I blinked and looked up from filling the coffee carafe with water. “What do you mean?”

“Giguhl said you wouldn’t help find Brooks’s friend because you got your panties in a twist on account of the girl being Adam’s old flame,” she said with her trademark tact.

“Did he now?” I counted each scoop of chicory coffee slowly, hoping it would help keep my temper in check.

“I don’t blame you.”

I frowned and looked up. “Really?”

She shrugged. “If I found out Giguhl had hidden some whore from his past, I would grill his ’nads over a pit of hot coals.” Her golden lips split into a wide smile. “While they were still attached.”

“Whore!” The smallest demon, a blue-skinned imp named Gooch, mimicked over a mouthful of bloody meat.

Despite the overly graphic description and the kid’s interjection, I maintained a straight face. “In this case, I knew about the girl. I just had a little trouble with the shock of finding out she was in town.”

She continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “Who knows why men do what they do? They’re all savages, really.” She reached over and picked up a juicy rib from the pile and began delicately gnawing at it. “Still,” she hedged, “I hope you’ll change your mind and help my sweet Sticky Buns. He’s missed you.”

My conscience pinged. “I’ve missed him, too.”

She set down the bone and licked her golden fingers clean. “Just don’t get him in any trouble.” She looked up slowly. “Or you’ll answer to me.”

Suddenly I wasn’t hungry anymore. Valva was the daughter of Asmodeus and Lilith, the King and Queen of Irkalla, so she had some serious muscle behind her threat. But I wasn’t worried about retribution from those deities as much as I was concerned about her just making life at home a nightmare. Or maybe it wasn’t the threat ruining my appetite, but the effects of watching the demon babies tear into the carcass. Either way, it was time to get out of that kitchen.

Just then, one of the demonlings toddled away from the table. She was covered in golden scales and bright green fur sprouted between the two black horns on her head. “Auntie Sabina,” she cried. Her claws were covered in cow goo, but I didn’t complain as she threw herself at my legs.

I patted her little head. “Hi, Lulu,” I said, calling her by her nickname. I refused to call her the name her parents had given her.

“Now, now, Auntie Sabina has very important matters to attend to, like ignoring her friends and punishing her lover.”

I glared at the Vanity demon. A sharp pain bloomed in my right calf. “Ouch!”

Lulu pulled back with a bloody smile.

“Labya!” Valva cried, rushing forward to grab the kid by her arm. “No bite!”

The child giggled and licked her black lips. “Aunty Sabina tastes like candy!”

Thoroughly creeped out, I all but ran out of the room to go find Adam and Giguhl so we could get this damned wild-goose chase over with.

In the library, I found Adam on the phone and Giguhl typing away on the computer. The look Adam shot me when I walked in was a visceral reminder of the fun we’d had after our heart-to-heart the night before. I shot him a saucy smile in response and went to join Giguhl at the computer.

“What’s shakin’, G?”

He used his claws to type something into the computer. “I’m chatting with Brooks. He wants us to come meet him at Zen’s shop. He says he’s got something to show us.”

I sighed. The last thing I wanted was to wade into the sea of humanity clogging Bourbon Street to get to Zen’s shop. With the Halloween crowds already taking over the city, the place was going to be a madhouse. “Can’t he just tell us what it is over the computer?”