Holy fucking tuna fish.

I cleared my throat again, determined to make this a clear business arrangement and nothing more. “Every night for how long?”

“For the remainder of our time here.”

“And after we leave here that deal ends?”

Something flashed in his eyes, but it disappeared too quickly for me to decipher it. “Yes.”

“Just to be clear, we won’t be having sex. We will be sleeping beside each other every night and nothing more, and this will only be while we’re staying here in Canada with your pack?”

His lips tugged up. “Have you made many fairy bargains?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because if you haven’t, you’d be quite good at it.”

I shook my head but had to smother a laugh. Everyone knew how binding fairy bargains were. The less specific ones tended to get the supernaturals who’d agreed to them in a world of shit.

He held up a finger. “Also, to be clear, there’s no reason we can’t have sex, but like I said earlier, I won’t be forcing anything on you.”

I took another long inhale, feeling more than ever that I was making a deal with the devil. But as much as the hunter’s demon side ruled him at times, I’d seen enough of him to know that he wasn’t such a snake as to renege on our arrangement. He truly wouldn’t force anything from me, but I also knew he’d be all over me in a second if I let him, which meant I had to be the strong one.

Surely, I could do that.

“Fine,” I said briskly. “We’ll sleep in the same bed every night while we’re here, but sleeping and sleeping only. And if I want to put pillows or a big blanket between us to create a barrier, then I can. I reserve the right to do that.”

He frowned, studying me. “No pillows. Or blankets between us.”

My nostrils flared.

A smile slid across his face.

I opened my mouth to snap at him, but he beat me to it. “I know, I know. I’m gloating again, but that’s only because I know that I have you. You really want to know what I am, and I really want you in my bed with nothing keeping your body from mine. So now the question is, how much do you want to know? Because I’m not budging. Every night. In my bed. No barriers. And then I’ll tell you everything.” He studied me, triumph building in his gaze. “You’re going to agree. I can see it.”

Irritation washed through me, but so did liquid desire. It shot to my core at the thought of sleeping with the hunter. His large body. His smooth skin. His hot muscles.

His nostrils flared again. He’d obviously detected my arousal. Damn him.

“Okay, fine. You win. Now stop being a demon-wolf and just tell me the damn story,” I snapped.

He chuckled, the sound deep and rich, before he settled back, his hands splaying behind him as he leaned across the mat. Against my better judgment, I let my gaze dip.

His rounded shoulders bulged, and his pecs looked like smooth slabs of stone. And his abs. Lord almighty, the man gave washboard a whole new meaning.

The hunter was a freaking work of art. A dark angel sent from the black underworld. He was here to test my patience and inflame my senses.

Huffing, I looked away and called upon my practical side, willing myself to maintain control and not do something foolish. I could only hope that I didn’t lose my head. “All right, I’m listening. Now spill it.”

He grinned, an all-out Cheshire Cat grin. “I was an infant when my father discovered that he’d birthed a child to a female demon. He didn’t even know about me until I was six weeks old.”

All thoughts of desire and the hunter in my bed vanished. “You lived with your demon mother in the underworld until you were six weeks old?”

“I did.”

“And you survived. She didn’t eat you or kill you, obviously.”

“She didn’t, but I have a feeling that would have changed if my father hadn’t found me.” His expression didn’t falter, but I couldn’t help but wonder if knowing that hurt.

“And you don’t remember her at all since you were so young?”

“Correct.”

I shook my head. “Sorry, go on with the rest of your story.”

He shrugged, not seeming to mind the interruption, and he’d freely offered answers when I’d asked for them—a first. The hunter was obviously pleased at what I’d agreed to, and as much as I wondered if I would regret it, I did feel a bit better that it didn’t seem he’d hold back about his origins.

His hands splayed wider on the mat. “The problem was that my father didn’t anticipate the challenges that would come with raising someone such as myself.”

“What do you mean by that?”

He smiled devilishly. “Where do I begin . . .”

OceanofPDF.com

Chapter 18

“Start at the beginning. You promised everything, remember?” I reminded the hunter.

“Oh, don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten.” That wicked smile grew. “Because of my mother’s status in the underworld, caring for me on earth proved problematic for my father.”

“What’s her status?”

“She’s Lucifer’s daughter.”

My mouth dropped open, and I gaped like I was trying to catch flies. But then I remembered his black flames and his cold words to Star Tattoo Guy before he’d killed him. Don’t you know who my mother is?

“That’s why you can create those black flames, and that’s why you can control them and use them to kill other demons.”

He nodded.

“But . . . how did your father meet Lucifer’s daughter? And how—” I shook my head, in complete disbelief that any of this was possible.

“Her name’s Asuran.”

I skimmed through my memories, trying to find what I could about demons. I came up blank. “I’ve never heard of her.”

“Most haven’t. Only some half-demons know of her. She’s rather reclusive, never leaves the underworld, and given her power, she has high status down there. Not many have dared cross her.”

“Then how did she end up pregnant with you?”

“Bad luck I suppose. For her, not me,” he added quickly when my face fell. “She hadn’t ever left the underworld as far as I know, and why she got inclined to leave the night she met Paxton, I still don’t know, but she did. She entered the fae lands, and as demons typically do, she cloaked her appearance and went to one of the bars. That’s where she met my father.”

A lightbulb clicked on. “So it’s the typical man sees attractive woman in a bar, they drink, then hook up, then oops . . . a baby was made scenario?”

“Not quite. My father was already drunk when she entered the bar, but he was drunk because he was trying to run from his pain. From what he can surmise, it was his pain that attracted Asuran to him. She entered his thoughts, and tugged at his memories until she learned what sorrows he was trying to drown with his fae drink.”

I cocked my head.

The hunter’s expression turned unreadable. “He was grieving his dead mate, the female werewolf that birthed Cameron, Gavin, and Ocean. She’d been killed in a rogue wolf attack only six months prior, and he wasn’t coping well.”

“Oh.” That would explain why his siblings all looked like werewolves only—because they were.

“So Asuran changed her appearance to look like my father’s dead mate. My father only told me this story once, but when he did, I could tell that he’d been so destroyed by his mate’s death that even though he knew the woman approaching him in the bar couldn’t possibly be her, he pushed that aside and let himself drown in the fantasy of seeing her again.” The Fire Wolf scratched his chin. “He said the entire night he was with her, he could feel his energy and magic being tugged and pulled at. Asuran was feeding not only off his pain and anguish, but also his ecstasy and hope that his mate was with him again. But, of course, in typical demon fashion, she didn’t stick around. The next morning, she left, and it was only many months later that my father happened to hear about me. It was pure luck he’d even been made aware of my birth, because if he hadn’t, I’m certain I would have died.”