Chapter Fourteen

I nstinct told Derek the water was deep, the fall not high enough to hurt them. He didn’t know why his gut told him that, or why he believed it, but he did.

They landed feet first in the water, which was deep enough they didn’t even touch bottom. Derek fought to the surface, clinging to Gina the entire time. She sputtered as her head shot up out of the water, muttering a string of curses.

“Are you deliberately trying to kill us both?”

“I told you we’d be fine.”

“You’re certifiably insane,” she shouted over the sound of the waterfall.

He grinned, just damn happy to be alive right now.

They swam to shore and dragged themselves and their gear out of the water.

“It’s going to take a while for all of this to dry out. Shouldn’t hurt the weapons. Much,” he said. Hopefully. He’d been out in the rain with the weapons before and it hadn’t affected them. Then again, he’d never submerged them.

Gina swept strands of hair away from her eyes. “Uhhuh. And how are we going to get back up there?” She pointed. “Or contact Lou and the others? Do you even know where we are or how to get back to base?”

“Give me a minute to wring myself out and we’ll figure it out, Gina. Relax.”

“I can’t relax. I just did a free fall into water whose depth you didn’t know. You could have killed me.”

“But I didn’t, did I? Chill.”

She shot him a look that was pure drama. He tried not to laugh, but couldn’t help it.

“Don’t you dare laugh at this. It’s not funny.”

“You have to admit it was one hell of a fun fall.”

She shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Come on. You, the no-fear action movie star who does her own stunts? You can’t tell me you were afraid.”

She squeezed the hem of her shorts and tilted her head to the side, a smile tickling her lips as she looked at him from the corner of her eyes. “It made my stomach flip. Like that first steep drop on a roller coaster.”

“Mine, too. My favorite kind of ride. You gotta learn to trust me, Gina. I’d never purposely put you in harm’s way.”

She studied him for a second. “I’ll work on that trust thing. You keep throwing me over cliffs, though, and it’s going to be difficult.”

Their shoulder lights were still functional, though their ear coms weren’t. Since their eyeshades molded to their heads, they were still attached, thankfully. After testing the UV weaponry, they discovered Derek’s gun still worked. Then he fixed the jammed mechanism on Gina’s rifle and test-fired it. All good there, as well as the other weapons.

“Weapons check good. Unfortunately the only thing not working is the com system.”

“Figures,” Gina said. “Now we have no way of contacting Lou.”

“First thing we do is figure a way out of here. Then, if we can’t, we’ll wait for Lou to realize we’re out of touch and pick us up on his image program.”

Derek studied their surroundings. They were blocked in on all sides by a steep rock face. No toe- or handholds with which to climb their way back up, and the waterfall on the north end wouldn’t offer any help. Water surrounded them, as well as a short bank around the edge. That was it. They walked the perimeter of the area, but didn’t see any openings.

“We’re stuck,” Gina said.

“Seems that way.”

“So now what?”

“Now we wait until rescue arrives, and hope more demons don’t show up in the meantime.” Derek backed them up against one of the slopes and sat, resting his rifle against his thigh. Gina sat next to him.

“Why didn’t the UV weapon work on the demons?” she asked.

“Need to strengthen the output, maybe reconfigure the concentration of UV light.”

“It worked before.”

“Yeah. On the pure or half demons. Haven’t battled the hybrids for a while. Those fuckers are strong. And different. It’s all about evolution, Gina. The way the Sons of Darkness create these hybrids, the genetics involved…” He dragged his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know. It’s not like we know everything. They adapt, then we adapt. It’s war, know what I mean?”

Gina drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, not at all comforted by Derek’s words.

War. Evolution. Adapting and learning on the fly. “I do know what you mean. But having to adapt in the middle of a battle when three hulking, foul creatures like that are a hairbreadth from killing you is a hell of a way to win.”

“Sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we retreat, regroup, and figure out another way.”

“Great.”

He looked at her. “This isn’t the movies. The good guys don’t always win.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You should.” He stared straight ahead. “It’ll keep you alive longer.”

What had she signed on for here? A chance to die young? A hopeless cause? “How do you do this, day in and day out, knowing that as soon as you think you’ve developed sophisticated enough weapons to beat them, they’ll evolve enough to survive destruction?”

“Because we do kill them. Because they don’t always figure out our weaponry fast enough, and because we’re smarter than they are. And for every one of those nasty bastards that dies, there’s one less demon out there to take some little boy or girl’s mother. One less demon out there to steal a human male and turn it into a demon’s slave. One less demon out there to throw the balance off. Because eventually, we will get them all.”

“You believe that?” She wished she could. Maybe it was because this was all new to her, but as a relative newcomer looking from the outside, she had this vision of a demon factory in hell, churning them out faster than a small handful of human fighters could kill them.

“I do believe it. I have to. Otherwise, they’d win. Then we might as well just take our shit home and wait for Armageddon. And I’ll be damned if I’ll let that happen.”

Gina turned her gaze to the waterfall, trying to lose herself in the sound of rushing water, to block out the sense of hopelessness enveloping her. But she couldn’t leave it alone, her thoughts as restless as her body in these wet, sticking clothes.

She turned to Derek. “That night the demon took your brother. You were ten?”

He arched a brow. “Yeah. Why?”

“Weren’t you terrified?”

He shrugged. “I guess. Confused more than anything. It didn’t make sense. It was like a dream, only more tangible. You don’t expect to see monsters really show up in your bedroom.”

“Did your brother struggle?” She hated asking the questions, but they’d been plaguing her.

“No. He was asleep and didn’t wake up.”

“Didn’t you find that strange?”

“Baby, everything about that night was strange.”

“Of course it was. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t bring it up.” She started to turn away, but he caught her wrist.

“It’s okay, Gina.”

His fingers were warm on her chilled skin. Though the night was humid, her clothes were wet and there was a breeze coming off the water. The falls shot droplets in their direction with every gust of wind. She shivered.

“Come here.” He pulled her into his arms. “You’re shivering.”

“I’m wet.”

“So am I. We should get out of these clothes.”

She tilted her head back. “What if someone showed up?”

“Then they’d see us naked, I guess. But it’s getting cooler out here. Storm’s coming in.”

“What? You’re a weatherman now?”

He grinned. “No, I can smell it on the air.”

“So why get out of our clothes if we’re just going to get wet again?”

“Well, first off, I’d get to see you naked again, and second…I guess there is no second,” he teased.

She shook her head at his one-track mind. “That made absolutely no sense.” But she still snuggled up against him. Just what they needed, a big tropical storm while they were out here with no shelter.

“We’re just going to have to find a place where we can get out of it. These storms can get pretty bad. And if it rains hard, they aren’t going to come looking for us anytime soon.”

To prove his point, a big fat drop of rain landed on her leg. Then another.

“Come on.” He stood and pulled her upright. “Let’s head toward the falls.”

Great. More water. Just what they needed when they were already wet and about to get wetter.

“Why?”

“Because there’s something behind it.”

“How do you know?”

“Quit asking questions and let’s just go.”

She followed, not sure what he thought he was doing. When they reached the waterfall it began to rain in earnest, soaking them through. Gina wished for wiper blades on her glasses, but without them she’d be blind in the dark.

“Give me your hand,” Derek shouted. She reached for it, latching on as he pulled her against the rock wall face beside the waterfall.

The ground was slippery and she nearly lost her footing as he dragged her along the side of the slope, but then she saw what he was talking about. An opening, a ledge behind the falls. He let go of her to make the three-foot jump downward onto the ledge, and she followed, simply grateful to be out of the rain.

It was like a cocoon, the waterfall blanketing them from the storm outside. Lightning flashed, illuminating the small cave. Gina took a quick turn around and nodded.

“At least it’s dry.”

“Roomy enough, too. This will do until the storm passes.” He shrugged the rifles off his shoulders, setting his lanterns on the ground and pointing them upward to bathe the cave in soft light. After discarding his boots and socks, he unbuckled his ammo belt and peeled off his wet shirt. “Better get out of those wet things.”

He was right. Yet she felt strangely shy, even though they’d shared the most intimate of encounters last night. Getting naked for lovemaking was one thing. Standing around bare-assed with Derek while waiting for a storm to pass was another.

Derek rolled his eyes. “I’m not suggesting it to fuck you, Gina. A hunter with pneumonia does our cause no good. No one’s coming for us in this storm, and even if they did they wouldn’t find us in here. Now strip.”

She shivered and realized he was right. This was no time for modesty or second thoughts about any other motives. She dropped her gear, toed off her boots, then pulled off her tank top and sports bra, unbuttoning her shorts with shaky fingers.

Dammit, her teeth were chattering. The wind howled outside, signaling an upsurge in the storm as it blew the waterfall back in on them.

She cursed when she couldn’t manage the soaked but tons on her shorts.

“Let me help you,” Derek said, shrugging out of his pants.

“I can do it.”

“You’re shaking and your lips are starting to turn blue.” He brushed her numb fingers aside and deftly unbuttoned her shorts, then pushed the material down her hips. It clung to her skin, proving difficult. Derek squatted and dragged the soaked material all the way to her ankles, taking her socks off, too. She had to hold on to his shoulder while she stepped out of her shorts and panties.

When he looked up at her, she remembered last night, being in this same position, and her body began to warm. Especially the way he stared at her, his eyes darkening like storm clouds.

With a quick clearing of his throat, Derek stood and turned away to gather up their clothes, but the evidence of his desire couldn’t be masked. His erection was full, prominent, and right out there for her to see.

She couldn’t help but smile. At least she wasn’t the only one thinking of last night. Waves of arousal heated her, warming her more effectively than if they’d built a fire right in the cave.

“The floor’s a little cold,” he said after he sat. “I don’t want you on it.”

She wrapped her arms around her middle. “What do you want me to do? Stand here?”

“No. I want you to sit on me.”

Heat again, this time coiling around her belly. “You’re kidding, right?”

“I need to get you warm, Gina. Now get over here and sit on me.”

His voice was too husky, his body betraying the words that he was offering simply for her health. She knew his intentions were honorable, but she wasn’t too sure about her own.

She needed his heat, and not just because her body was chilled. Flame had ignited already, and though her body was icy on the outside, it was hot on the inside, needing Derek to stoke the fire. She walked over to him, watching the way his eyes darkened as she approached, the way he tilted his head back, his gaze gravitating to her sex as she placed it right in line with his full, oh so soft lips.

Then she straddled his thighs, and draped herself over his lap, facing him.

His wide-eyed look of shock was priceless. She wrapped her legs around his waist, the aching part of her making sweet, full-on contact with his erection.

“Damn, Gina,” he whispered. “That’s not what I meant.”

She twined her arms around his neck. “You want me in a different position?”

He grasped her buttocks and dragged her closer against him. “Hell, no.”

“Then warm me.”

Shock didn’t even begin to describe Derek’s reaction to Gina’s bold move. Straddling him. Naked, her wet center surging against his hard cock.

He hadn’t expected this, his intent only to warm her body.

Well, hell, she was warm now. Hot, in fact, a flush returning to her cheeks, her lips no longer tinged with blue, but pink and lush.

He leaned in and brushed his tongue over her bottom lip. “Open.”

She did, and he invaded, having taken the gentlemanly course for as long as he could tolerate. She offered, and he was damn well going to take. His lips pressed firmly to hers and his tongue entered her mouth, meeting hers in a desperate frenzy, licking and sucking in wild abandon.

He’d warm her all right. He’d get her so hot she’d be begging for a dip in the cool water.

Though frankly, at this point he was past worrying about her health and more concerned with getting inside her. She was wet, moaning and surging against him with blatant need that was hard to ignore.

His woman was ready. His woman. Yeah, she was his, at least for now. And now was all that mattered, wasn’t it?

He’d never thought beyond the here and now. Anything more than that was dangerous.

She broke the kiss, sliding her lips down his neck and near his ear. “No foreplay,” she gasped. “Fuck me.”

More than ready, apparently. Suited him just fine, since he’d been hard from the moment he’d bent down to strip off her clothes, then looked up to see her naked beauty spread before him. She might have been shaking, blue and vulnerable, but even then she turned him on.

That kind of thing was hard to mask when you’re naked. At least for a guy. And the look she cast down on him, her hair escaping her braid in wild disarray, her nipples pointed and begging for his tongue, and her legs widespread, her sex open for his view…a man could only offer so much chivalry.

He leaned back, finding her center, then slid inside her, groaning as he did. So tight, so hot, she sucked him into a vortex of wet heat. She surged against him, leaning back so he could watch as she moved forward, then retreated. The lanterns bathed her body in light, allowing him to see everything. Flickering shadows moved along her body. Like a dream, she undulated against him, teasing him with occasional glimpses of where they were connected. And each time, the visuals tore him apart, watching the way they were a part of each other and able to feel it at the same time.

Gina was a temptress.

“Do you know what you do to me?” she asked, her breasts swaying from side to side as she rode him. “It makes me crazy.”

And she took him right to the bounds of sanity and beyond.

He lifted his finger and slipped it between her lips. She drew it in, sucking it, rolling her tongue around it, and his balls tightened, imagining her mouth on his cock, what magic she’d perform on him. “Yeah, baby. Suck it. Harder.”

She drew her mouth over his finger the same way she slid over his dick. Slowly, inch by inch.

“You make me crazy, too, Gina. Goddamn, crazy.”

Gina liked that, knowing she made him a little insane, knowing she gave him delirious pleasure. She saw it on his face as she sucked his thick finger into her mouth, as she imagined taking his shaft between her lips and pleasuring him that way.

He was tight inside her, hard and heavy, buried to the hilt and plunging even deeper. The chills and shivering cold had long since passed, leaving her burning, sweating, consumed with a fire that burned deep within.

She rocked that sweet spot between her legs against him, the hardened nub making contact each time she surged forward.

He withdrew his finger and cupped the back of her neck, drawing her close for a kiss. His tongue was liquid velvet sliding against hers, the words he murmured against her lips taking her ever closer to the release she so desperately sought.

“You want to come for me, baby?”

“Yes.”

She’d never been one for conversation during sex. It was too…personal, brought her too close to her partner. But Derek whispered to her constantly, sometimes murmuring his approval as she moved, sometimes promising wicked things as he licked her earlobe.

He made her shiver. He made her do things she’d never ordinarily do.

He made her feel free.

“Ride me hard, Gina,” he urged. She grasped his shoulders and lifted, then dropped down on him again, controlling both their pleasure. It was a truly heady experience, watching his face tighten, the shadows cast by the lantern giving him a harsh, roguish appearance.

His body was all hard muscles and planes. In this position she was free to touch him, run her hands over his shoulders and chest. When she grasped his chest hair and pulled, he cursed, but smiled at her in a way that let her know she was free to do whatever she wanted.

He could take it.

He grasped her buttocks, spreading them apart as he moved, positioning her in a way that was so perfect, as if he knew just what to do to take her there.

“Rock that pretty body against mine. Make yourself come for me, Gina. I want to feel you squeeze me again. I want you to come on me, baby.”

His words gave her hot chills. He gave her such power, such control, at the same time making her feel completely out of control.

She wanted to give him exactly what he asked for.

Derek watched the play of emotions on Gina’s face. The ecstasy, the determination, the raw hunger that matched his own. She was a wildcat, scratching at him, pulling at him, and riding him with wild abandon.

But he’d held on as long as he could, waiting for the moment when he felt the contractions pull him deep, knowing she was about to launch.

That’s right where he wanted her, primed and ready to rocket.

He drew her against him and buried his face in her neck, lifting his hips to bury himself deep inside her, biting down on the soft spot between her shoulder and neck as he did, feeling her tremble and come apart around him.

He loved to feel her come, shuddering against him, squeezing him, pouring over him with the sweetest, warmest rain. He growled against her and bit harder. She cried out and came again, and this time, he went with her, nearly light-headed with the lust that seemed to take over.

Damn, she brought out the animal in him.

He held her while she continued to rock against him, slowing until she stilled completely. He lay back and pulled her full on top of him, sweeping his hands over her back until she relaxed, her head resting on his chest.

He liked this, having her fall asleep lying on him.

A man could start thinking about tomorrow with a beautiful woman like Gina in his life.

He closed his eyes and pondered that thought.

 

The sun cast prisms of color through the waterfall, the last of the storm clouds blown away. Their clothes were mostly dry and they’d even managed to get a little sleep.

With their ear coms dried out, Derek had gotten in touch with Lou and gave them their location. Lou was dispatching a team with ropes to drag them out.

“You ready?” Derek asked, buckling his ammo belt on.

“Yeah.” Gina turned to him. “Just need my guns.”

He grasped her wrist and placed it on his crotch. “Got a big gun for you right here, baby.”

She rolled her eyes and laughed, pushing at his chest. “Dumbass.”

The high color on her cheeks made him feel better. Hell, he felt pretty damn good.

But now they had to get back to business. Reconfigure the UV weaponry, give Lou a report on the battle with the demons, and figure out what happened with the other hunters.

Playtime was over. Back to business.

Back to demon hunting.

Too bad he and Gina didn’t live in another world, another place where demons didn’t exist, where they could have a normal relationship.

Whatever normal was. He’d like to explore a normal life sometime. He hadn’t had normal since before Nic disappeared.

Only interludes of it. Like last night.

“Back to work, then,” he said.

“I guess so,” she replied with a reluctant sigh, slinging her rifle over her shoulder and turning to leave the cave.

He grabbed her then, taking in her gasp with his mouth over hers, kissing her deeply, with a longing that surprised the hell out of him.

Then he let her go, not sure why he’d done that, knowing damn well he shouldn’t have. He didn’t do emotional shit like that.

But Gina smiled, licked her bottom lip, and nodded, then climbed out of the cave.

Yeah, she understood.

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