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Ash woke up in a cold sweat as fragh hisup naked in bed, he could hear desperate voices calling out to him with unspoken pleas

And then he felt it The cold, de hand on his bare shoulder that jerked his senses away frohtmare

"Coh his long blond hair as he tried to center his attention on the loudest voice he&039;d heard But it was lost now drowned out by all the others until all the pleas were nothing but a dull roar that rang in his ears "Soust deep in the back of her throat-a sound that was cooddess who had created an army supposedly to protect mankind from the Apollites and Daie and then endoith godlike powers Then again, she&039;d immediately abandoned that army into Acheron&039;s care and then used the&039;s always happening," she said in an aggravated tone "When the cat&039;s away, the rodents will scurry"

He let out an exasperated breath as he turned to look at her over his shoulder She was lying back in bed, her body covered by the white, gossamer sheet that was softer than theof her body hidden froaze Her red hair fanned out around her in perfection, but in spite of being a goddess, she was the furthest possible thing from perfection "The mice will play, Artie"

She turned instantly huffy with him as she tried to pull hiot up and headed for the French doors that opened onto a golden veranda at his approach He stepped through theainst the cold stone banister and stared out at the rainboaterfall It was truly beautiful here on Olyhts were on the future that taunted hi into focus noand it would affect those he was close to He could feel it with every fiber of his being Damn it

"What are you up to, Stryker?" he asked in the faintest whisper, knowing there would be no answer fro evil into motion For thousands of years the Dai had happened four years ago to bring him back into the open Noas determined to hurt Ash any way he could

Artemis ht shoulder while she nuzzled his left with her cheek before she nipped his skin with her teeth "Co he wanted at thehe wanted period But long ago, he&039;d reconciled himself to the fact that he would never be free of the prison Arte his eyes, he took a deep breath and counted to ten before he spoke a plea that stuck deep in his craw He&039;d never been one to beg for anything and yet she ether "Let o, Artie My men need me"

Her nails bit deep into his shoulder blade as her teed him "You proo, although why you wanted the soul of a Shade, I&039;ll never understand"

That&039;s because she had no concept of compassion and she never would

"And you can release me fro expression

She raked her nails painfully down his spine, no doubt laying his flesh open in vicious welts Welts that would close instantly if not for her using her powers to make sure they stayed fresh and painful His face stoic, Ash stiffened as his back burned He knehat had always gone unspoken between them She hated the fact that she loved him, and for the whole of their relationship she&039;d punished him because, in her h he would really, really like her to try

She wrapped her hand in his long, blond hair and gave a vicious yank

Bored with her childish gaave another jerk before she released him "I should have you whipped for your insolence"

Why not? His back was still sore fro-part of the price she forced hier&039;s soul She&039;d always been sadistic that way The fact that he could take a beating without flinching had always turned her on But then he&039;d been weaned on brutality Reacting to it had only served to worsen his punishments, so he&039;d learned early in life to suck it up and move on

"Whatever makes you happy, Artemis"

"Then come back to bed with raceful hand stroked the only part of her body that held any appeal to him "I&039;ll let you feed if you do"

He could feel his incisors growing at her invitation as his stomach rumbled with need It&039;d been almost aelse hat had forced him to stay with her for a week He had to eat fro he hunted "Don&039;t tease ry for that"

She moved closer to hih her icy veins She nibbled the line of his jaw as she gently cupped him in her hand, and yet his body didn&039;t stir in the least "Give ive you a small reprieve to check on them"

Ash clenched his teeth He truly hated it whenever she bartered with hiain

But then he was nothing if not her whore For a seentle touch on his flesh, he&039;d sold hio No matter how much he hated it, no matter how much he hated her, he knew that he couldn&039;t exist without her Not if he wanted to maintain his compassion and live with his emotions under his control and not becooddess

He&039;d truly da so trivial that he noondered why it had seeo "I want your word that I can feed and then leave for twenty-four hours"

She licked her lips as she ran a hot gaze over his naked body "Give asms within one hour and you can have ten I swear it on the river Styx "

Ash laughed softly at that Even after all these centuries, she still underesti Good He&039;d be done with her in less than fifteenRavyn&039;s hot brow as he whispered unintelligibly in his sleep Otto had helped her clean up the earlier ain while Ravyn drifted in and out of consciousness and she skih ht for her

The Squires seemed to have an affinity for the monstrosity and were insistent that she learn every nuance of it, and she was anxious to learn absolutely everything But she also didn&039;ta break whenever Ravyn cah henever he ake, he was either groping her or leading her hand to parts of his body that she really did want to explore-but not while he was this far gone Soht Even so, she had to admit, he was scru, he was also extremely affectionate Very catlike

He opened those deep, dark eyes to pin her with a lusting stare again He pulled her hand froertip, then the back of her knuckles Each sweep of his tongue sent a razor-sharp spike of pleasure through her This man knew his way around a woman&039;s senses and how to elicit pleasure with the s him away so difficult That evil part in the back of herto knohat he&039;d be like naked in her arirl resist a line like that?

Oh wait, very easily He was still out of it Yeah, and ould it hurt?

No, she couldn&039;t take advantage of hie of people while they were down Not to mention the small fact that he&039;d never seemed that interested in her while at full capacity If, when he awoke, he was still interested, there otiation But at the moment, those talks were moot

She pulled the cloth away froht one away froue of his "That&039;s okay, Leopard your brow"

"That&039;s not what I want you to stroke" He pulled her head doard his

Tired of fighting him, she let him kiss her only to learn that that was a serious mistake Her entire world spun at the decadent taste of hial and it probably was in some states She&039;d been kissed a lot of ti and powerful and left her completely breathless

He led her hand back to the swollen bulge in his jeans He held her hand there as he rubbed hi her teeth, she could just i that inside her Feel hi her until she finally had ultiuy She could certainly go a little longer

Reluctantly, she broke away from his kiss "Easy, Puss in Boots"

He actually whi, he reached for her again, only instead of kissing her, he nuzzled her neck Susan hissed at the ware happened

Her eyes started watering and her nose iot until she sneezed

"Ohback to wipe at her eyes "I think Pic to you"

He rose up and stalked her across the mattress "I&039; hi better Maybe she rong

"You&039;re not allergic toher He rolled her over onto the mattress and pinned her under him

Susan was fine until he dipped his head back toward hers to kiss her again and his hair fell down over her face She i her throat, she rolled hirin so wicked that it alone could have ainst her again

"Stop that and listen to ic to you," she said sternly

At least to his hair, which made complete sense she supposed, since it was cat fur that set her off But the worst part was that deep down inside her, a part of her was extremely disappointed Which made no sense to her whatsoever

It wasn&039;t like she could ever have a relationship with a

"C&039;mon, Susan," he said in that deeply provocative voice as he lifted his hips to rub with a part of her that ay too interested in that swollen part of his body "I need you"

Stifling the wicked imp that wanted her to strip him bare and sate both of their baser instincts, she shook her head "What you need is a cold shower"

"Take one with me and I&039;ll wash your back"

He was relentless!

Suddenly, a knock sounded on the door

Grateful for the interruption, Susan ihtened her rumpled clothes "Come in"

The door opened to show Erika, who looked past her to see Ravyn stretched out on the mattress

Ravyn snorted as he rolled to his side and curled into a very catlike pose "Hey, kitten Got any change?"

Erika wrinkled her nose as she stepped past Susan, into the rooh?"

"Yes Very," she answered, duplicating Erika&039;s clipped tone

That appeared to areat deal "Man, any idea what it is?"

Susan folded her arms over her chest as she watched Erika slowly approach Ravyn, as now singing son language, while lying on his side "I&039;m not one hundred percent sure Why?"

" &039;Cause whatever it is, let&039;s up the dosage He hasn&039;t called hted sht have aiven Erika&039;s blase attitude toward both her and Ravyn, Susan wasn&039;t feeling overly charitable toward the younger woman

"Is there a point to your visit?"

"I just wanted totre so short with her After all, Erika had known him all her life and with her father off in Hawaii, Ravyn was the only fa her tone "Are you okay?"

She nodded, but there was so in her eyes that was sad and hurt "I just don&039;t like people dying onalone sucks"

Erika tucked a piece of hair behind one ear With that one, hesitant action, she went froirl who needed so would be okay "You&039;ve no idea"

"Actually," Susan said, stepping closer to her, "I do By the tie, I was an orphan, and I&039;ve been alone ever since"

"Was it hard alone?"

Susan sed as old memories haunted her "Yeah, raduation while all of your friends are surrounded by their fae with no laughing mom and dad to tease you while you find your dorm room Unless soo when the dorm&039;s closed But the worst are the holidays, especially Christift under the tree that you bought for yourself, and you wonder what it would be like to have a mom or dad, or just anyone to call"

Now she didn&039;t even have Angie and Jiie had always been the one who&039;d invited her home She&039;d always taken care to call her on Mother&039;s Day and Easter to make sure she was okay And she&039;d always lied and said she was fine, even though inside it still hurt to have absolutely no one

She glanced over at Ravyn How much harder were those moments when you knew your family was alive, but not to you?

It explained why he was so understanding of Erika Annoying though she could be, she was better than being alone Better than watching the rest of the world take for granted the very things you would sell your soul to have

She saw a grudging respect in Erika&039;s blue eyes as the girl nodded in"I&039;o It still hurts"

"I know I&039;m sorry, too"

"Thanks" Erika looked over at Ravyn, then frowned "You need anything? Like a cage or flea repellent?"

S, Susan paused as she watched Ravyn"Itsy Bitsy Spider" in that lyrical language of his "An antidote would be nice"

"I don&039;t know," Erika said teasingly "He&039;s kind of a kid around or so"

Ravyn rolled over onto his stomach and tried to push himself up Susan rushed to his side to keep hi to push her back

"No, no You&039;re right where you need to be"

"No," he said in a tone so whiny that it stunned her She&039;d have never thought such a sound could have coo"

Why was he being so stubborn?

"No, Ravyn You need to stay right here"

"But I can&039;t go here and I really have to go"

Erikanoise "Susan, I think what he&039;s saying is he needs the litter box "

A feeling of dread consumed her No even her luck wasn&039;t that bad "Oh, surely not"

He pushed hirasp only to fall back down He looked at the mattress as if baffled by it "This isn&039;t the bathroom"

Oh, shoot o, she couldn&039;t very well let hi "I can&039;t believe I&039; to do this"

Erika indicated the door with her thuuys to help?"

Susan let out a long, tired breath as she considered it for a second "No I somehow doubt they&039;ll be any more enthused about this than I am" No doubt, they&039;d kill hi this down to the deepest part of her being, she assisted Ravyn to his feet and alht Thea car "Could you help et him to the bathrooet him across the hall to the sht and craht better of it In his current condition, Ravynthey needed was for hi

She watched as he fumbled with his fly like a two-year-old "My zipper&039;s broken"

She rolled her eyes "No, it isn&039;t"

He dared to give her an exasperated look "Yes, it is"

What did I do to deserve this? She figured it had to be divine retribution for so There was no other reason for her day to have turned on her so viciously Cursing her own fate, she moved forward to push his hands out of the way so that she could undo his pants Which she learned were button fly No wonder they wouldn&039;t unzip Unbuttoning them, her face flamed as she realized that he didn&039;t have on any underwear Not that she hadn&039;t already seen him naked, but this was soe, she helped him lower his pants, then turned her back while he took care of his needs

This has to be the weirdestlike this for a stranger before But then again, if she ever somehow found herself in a situation like this, she only hoped that soh it What little she knew of Ravyn, she was sure he&039;d die of e this helpless He seeiven the way his family treated hier than she had

When he was through, she helped hi thee and callused, brutally scarred by untold fights against who only knehat One in particular ide and deep, and ran all the way up his forear had taken a vicious bite out of hiht of them Yeah, her life and troubles seemed so mild by comparison