The Demon Lord (A Demon Outlaws Novella) (Entangled Edge) Read Free

harm me.”
    The Demon Lord’s mind was already made up in that regard. He had no intention of harming her. He had other, more pleasurable, activities in mind.
    He intended to claim her.
    He crossed his arms over his chest so that his hands rested on his shoulders, and bowed his head in a symbolic gesture of submission. “I promise no harm will come to you. Not through me, nor any of my demons.”
    His answer seemed to satisfy her. Wearing nothing but a colorful stone amulet on a chain around her slender neck, she waded from the water with long, graceful steps. Droplets blazed like fiery stars against her golden skin. With careful gentleness, he reached out a hand to touch the tips of his fingers to one of her arms.
    The water dampening her flesh seared his. He drew back his hand on a harsh, muttered curse.
    “I’m so sorry,” she cried. “I never intended for that to happen.” Concern spilled from her eyes.
    “It’s nothing.”
    It wasn’t. He should have known better than to touch her, but was unable to resist the temptation. The scorching of his fingertips was far from the worst pain he had ever experienced.
    What shocked him was the discovery that she could resist him. He couldn’t compel her the way he did mortal women. He couldn’t claim her. The tenderness in her eyes seared his heart.
    With a single touch and a glance, she had claimed him instead.

Chapter Two
    He said it was nothing. To him, perhaps not.
    To her, the instant he touched her, it was as if the moon and stars collided with the earth to explode into sparkling showers of shimmering light. She lived an endless existence, but until now, this very second, she’d never known what it meant to be truly alive.
    The full brunt of the mortal emotions she and her sisters had longed to experience crashed through her. She hadn’t anticipated this overwhelming attraction to a demon. She had not expected the devastating magnificence of him as he stood naked before her, bathed in moonlight. Black hair brushed his broad shoulders. Confidence curled the corners of his sensual lips into an indolent smile of anticipation.
    His beauty transcended anything a mere man could ever hope to possess.
    He was perfect.
    And with that one simple touch, she belonged to a demon.
    A demon .
    Dread unfolded inside her. She could not do what her sisters expected of her. She could not seduce him and remain unaffected. She couldn’t enslave him. Not even for the mortals she loved.
    She reached for her robe, caught on the jutting corner of a rock where she had dropped it, although modesty was not her motivation. Her physical form meant little to her other than as a shell that contained who she was, a necessity for existence here on this world. She wanted to towel off her skin so that no more goddess rain could come in contact with him.
    “Leave it,” he commanded.
    She paused with her hand outstretched, the robe untouched as she turned her face to him. “I thought to protect you.”
    “I need no protection.”
    He sounded so amused by the possibility that she might somehow be capable of harming him. Perhaps he was right.
    She straightened, allowing the robe to remain where it was. The desert air would dry her almost as fast as the fabric. Nevertheless, she bundled her hair in both hands and allowed it to fall down her back. The damp tendrils swept against the swell of her bottom like the cool tip of a lover’s tongue.
    “You seem very certain of that,” she said.
    He took two steps toward her. She backed away, placing her at the edge of the water, where the fallen rain lapped at her heels.
    A soft laugh rolled from his chest at her cautious retreat. “I’ve heard the tales of the things goddesses do with mortal men.”
    “And I’ve seen the results of what demons do with mortal women.”
    It was a reckless response for her to make. Demon offspring were monsters who clawed their way from the womb and tore their mortal mothers apart, feeding on their flesh. She held her