Vowed in Shadows Read Online Free

scare.”
    â€œBecause you’re a bad girl.”
    â€œJust like you wanted.” Her bare toes grazed his crotch, such a glancing touch it might have been an accident, except he suspected she didn’t make such mistakes. She fancied herself fully in control of the situation. Of him.
    His body didn’t exactly disabuse her of the notion. The surge in his jeans kindled a flare of victory in her eyes. As if this was a battle she planned to win.
    No way for her to know she’d already lost.
    Pity chewed at his defensive anger. “Ah, Nim. Was there no one who cared to turn you from this path?”
    Her eyes widened, and a streak of violet shot across the whites. “Shit. You’re one of those? Come to save me from myself?”
    â€œNo.” His voice was scarcely more than a whisper. “I couldn’t dream of saving you.” Maybe once, he’d believed himself the man for such a task. Not anymore.
    â€œGood, because I like what I do.” Her lashes fluttered like a Venus flytrap closing on unsuspecting prey. “And I can tell you like it too.”
    The league had no idea what it was getting. But demons—even the repentant teshuva that fought against the darkness—never cared much for harmony. Their quest for redemption would be found through obliteration. “I still don’t condone selling your soul for money.”
    â€œVery good money.” She bent her knee, lowering herself toward him, the V of her breasts one deep breath away from swallowing his wallet. “And it’s just a body. Don’t you think it’s worth that wad?”
    He twitched the wallet away. “You don’t even care that much about the money.”
    â€œNot true,” she protested.
    â€œYou do it because you like when men ache.”
    â€œOh yeah, I ache all over. For you.” She flexed so that her shin hovered above his chest, her naked body stretched nearly parallel to his. “Just returning the favor, lover.”
    â€œDid you ache when you marked yourself with these?” He touched his fingertip to the first in a row of circular scars marching up the inside of her thigh.
    She recoiled with a snarl. “Don’t. Touch.”
    Behind her back, he reached up, and, with his hook flattened between her shoulder blades, he dragged her down to his chest.
    She squawked as she sprawled over him in a tangle of long limbs and a thrust of bare breast. Her first ungraceful move of the week.
    He cupped his palm to her cheek, fingers against the curve of her skull, thumb pressed under her jaw, firm but not unnecessarily cruel. “You put too much faith in your body.” He was relieved at his conversational tone. “Control the head and you control the body.” Control was good, yes.
    Unable to regain her balance without testing his grip on her pressure point, she glared into his eyes from inches away. The purple flare spiraled from her irises into the blacks of her pupils, bright enough to dazzle him. He knew her vision was shifting into hunter mode.
    An irate breath flared her nostrils. “Which head?”
    She slammed her fist toward the fly of his jeans.
    If she hadn’t all but announced her intentions—and if he hadn’t already been thinking about that part of his anatomy—she might have landed the punch. But he was already twisting away, so her knuckles caught the point of his hip instead.
    She yelped, not loud enough to carry over the bump-and-grind music. He’d already confirmed that the security cameras covered only the doors and the cash register, and the bouncer had willingly taken two hundred-dollar bills with nothing more than a wink and a man-to-man nod.
    More important, the isolation that had made her susceptible to the demon and now her unconscious reliance on its powers would keep her from calling out for help.
    However, the rising demon also made her harder to handle. He twisted again when she braced one foot