instincts kicking in full force, she kneed him in the groin and spun around to run back into the depths of the cave, only to turn and slam into a muscular chest she deemed to be that of her “guide.”
He reached out and fingered a lock of her auburn hair, his eyes narrowed in genuine concern and something that looked like sadness flickering in their shadowy depths. “Jadyn, baby girl. You can’t run. No one leaves hell.” His voice was low, soft and sympathetic.
She worried her bottom lip. “How did I get here?”
His brow furrowed and he gave her a knowing look, as though he was privy to every sinful secret from her past. Then again, perhaps he was.
She crossed her arms. “Okay, let me rephrase that. Why now? What happened?”
Silence fell over them as his seductive glance moved over her face, assessing her. Then he passed his hands through the air, placed his palms on her shoulders and turned her around.
He pulled her in tight, until her back was molded against his hard chest—among other hard parts on his strong, athletic body. God, why did his touch feel so achingly familiar, filling her with solace, not fear? As she glanced into the tunnel, a watery picture danced over the stone walls. She grasped her chest when she saw her sports car wrapped around a tree.
“I fell asleep at the wheel,” she stated.
“You were in no shape to be driving,” Cage responded.
The image flashed forward to a hospital room where her friends and younger sister, Tami, stood over her still body, tubes and machines keeping her alive. She turned back to face her guide. “But I’m not dead. I’m on life support.”
“A technicality,” he assured her, his eyes solemn. “Since you’re not officially dead, Lucifer has forty-eight hours to claim you.”
“How?”
“As soon as you submit to him and hand yourself over to his authority, you’ll be his to do with as he pleases, his forever, and your body will die.”
Submit to him? Like hell! Jadyn didn’t submit to anyone.
Gage shifted on his feet and, as though he’d read her thoughts, he added in a low, tortured tone, “He has a way of making people do things they wouldn’t normally do.”
Standing strong and courageous was how Jadyn had managed to get her and her sister through life, andthat was what was going to get her out of this hell pit, too, she quickly decided. She lifted her chin high, suddenly hopeful, and asked, “If I don’t submit, I’ll go back to my body?”
Gage let out a long-suffering sigh. His expression was dark, pained. “It won’t happen, Jadyn. No one has ever been able to resist Lucifer’s demonic charm.”
Vowing not to lose a single ounce of her earlier optimism despite Gage’s solemn words, she swallowed and momentarily closed her eyes, partly to keep her focus and partly to give her a moment of reprieve from his sexual magnetism. “I guess you have that charm, as well, don’t you?” Which explained why her libido had gone into overdrive the minute she encountered him.
He put two fingers under her chin and nudged her head upward. His eyes softened when they met hers, and warm familiarity moved through her. “No. As a matter of fact, I don’t.”
Her head jerked back with a start. “Oh.” Then why was she so drawn to him? So attracted to the devil’s henchman in a way she’d never been attracted to a man? She opened her mouth to ask, but he cut her off.
“Enough for now. Come, let me take you to your chambers and prepare you for tonight’s feast.”
“Feast?” Working to stay unshakable, to show no fear in the face of adversary, she planted her hands on her hips and played the best card she had under the circumstances. “I hate to break it to you, but if you’re sacrificing virgins, you’re out of luck.”
With that Gage laughed out loud, and for some strange reason the sound was like an aphrodisiac to her. “We’re not going to eat you, Jadyn.” He stepped closer and ran the pad of his thumbs over her lips. He wet his mouth like he was about to devour her, and her body shivered violently in response. Oddly enough, it was a shiver of anticipation, not fear. After a short pause he pitched his voice low, leaned in and whispered in the softest, gentlest tone she’d ever heard, “Unless of course, you want me to.”
With his hand positioned on the small of her back, Gage led her through the main lair and ushered her to her own private den in the “waiting room”—a cold, dank room where she’d linger until she submitted to Lucifer. Until then she was his charge, his to watch over and guide until her claiming.
He angled his head and gave her a long, thoughtful stare. Her barely there chamois hung low over her full breasts, affording him a glimpse of her creamy flesh and pretty pink areolas. His pulse kicked up a notch and his cock thickened beneath his loincloth as he took pleasure in her near nakedness.
Jadyn, sweet Jadyn.
He had watched over her in the “real world” long enough to know she was intelligent, beautiful and audacious, a woman with integrity and heart, despite her rough upbringing. Even though she was putting on an outward show of bravado in the face of death—his aching balls were a painful reminder of that—he could feel her body tremble beneath his palm. He hated what her future held, and everything inside him tightened. Fuck, he could hardly believe she was here with him. Torn between guilt and pleasure, he cursed himself for finding joy in her presence, because she shouldn’t be in hell at all. Not her. Not his sweet Jadyn. She was kind, compassionate, angelic and didn’t belong here—no matter how much he wanted to keep her with him forever, to protect her from everyone and everything, especially Lucifer.
He’d been observing her every action for years now, drawn to her in an inexplicable way. He felt like he knew her better than she knew herself, understanding her every desire, her every need. Gage had spent many years fantasizing about what it’d be like to kiss those plump lips of hers, to run his tongue over her lush body, to rake his fingers through her auburn hair and make sweet passionate love to her all night long. Perhaps they’d been lovers from another lifetime. Or perhaps not. All he knew was that for some mysterious reason she was important to him. Unfortunately his memories were fading, slipping away like dust in the wind, because the longer he spent in hell the harder and harder it was to recall his past.
The walked past a string of locked cells. Guides stood outside each cell, keeping watch over their charges while they, too, waited for their claiming. Gage’s comrades nodded as he advanced and then turned their eyes on Jadyn. Protective instincts kicking in, he fought the urge to position her behind him, toshield her from their prying gazes. He watched her throat work when she swallowed, her body inching closer to his—better the monster you know, he supposed.
He turned the corner, and except for Brand, seated outside one of the cells, the back wing was quiet and empty. Gage and Brand had arrived in hell at the same time, and had bonded, relying on each other for support after many long, hard days at the hands of Lucifer. Brand was his friend, a man he completely trusted, in life and in death.
Gage stopped outside Jadyn’s cell. What he was about to do went against the rules, but it wasn’t like Lucifer would ever find out, since he never frequented the “waiting rooms.” He brushed his hand over her eyes. “In here.”
“It’s just like…” Her voice
