Prologue

There is a world, parallel to the one most humans know, that houses myriad species of supernatural beings. The world is called the Unseen realm, for it hides just beyond the comprehension of all but a few mortals. The elemental creatures of the Unseen once ran rampant in both worlds, abusing mortals for their own pleasure and caring not a whit for the damage they wrought. The Great Bargain ended the chaos these beings had caused, but even the elders of the elemental races could not have foreseen what the gods would do.

Mortals know them by name and belief, though not by their true nature. These are the beings memorialized in myths and legends, the supposedly fictional characters invented by humans to explain aspects of their own world that they could not understand. But mortals did not invent the gods of the Unseen realm. Their ancient ancestors wrote down the names of their deities, the all-too-real beings who visited them for the sole purpose of harvesting their devotion by magical means.

Why do they do this? Because the reverence of humans feeds them untold strength and utter dominion over all living things in either world. For millennia, these beings have stayed in their little kingdoms in the Unseen, satisfied with harvesting energy from their cadre of devotees. But now, the gods of the Unseen are no longer distant memories. They have gone too far, and the balancing powers must act. The Four Winds alone wield the authority to command the gods.

So today, we gather in our temple in the clouds to debate an issue that will decide the balance of power in the multiverse.

“The matter before us now is of the gravest importance,” I say to the three beings convened with me here. “I urge you to consider the issue with the utmost gravity, for we risk more than our existence. We risk everything and everyone in the Unseen and the mortal realm, not to mention every corner of the multiverse.”

“We all know what must be done,” says Javren, his tone placid though faint wrinkles have formed around his eyes. “What other course is feasible? None. The being in question has flouted every tenet of the Great Bargain.”

“But do we have the right to reshape any being’s future?”

“That is our role as guardians, Miriella,” Zerith says. He raises his chin, the way he often does when expressing his considered opinion. “We maintain order, and the being in question has threatened that order.”

“Yes, and yet other gods have done the same. How can we punish one but not the others?”

“Zerith, I agree,” Lartellon says, her voice as soft as a spring breeze, “but perhaps there is another way.”

“None exists. We have sought advice from all the oracles, with each one providing the same prophecy.”

Javren nods solemnly. “Yes, there appears to be no other option to prevent a catastrophe. Unless we will consider destruction.”

I glance at each of my companions in turn. “We have discussed that option already. Even with our combined powers, the Four Winds cannot destroy a member of the primordial echelon without the participation of other gods and the most powerful elementals. It is a dangerous course to take.”

“Which leaves us with one option,” Lartellon says. “We must enact the plan before it is too late, before this one has gone too far.”

“Javren and Lartellon are correct,” Zerith says. “Hearing their words, I know them to be true. Are you yet in accord with us, Miriella? We all know of your fondness for mortals. You must see the necessity of this plan.”

“As you know, I have love for all living things. But yes, I have become rather fond of the mortal world and its denizens.”

I gaze up at the high ceiling of the temple and the swirling clouds that ever hang there, swirling and yet unmoving. Destruction is a violent act, and though the being we consider today has behaved abominably, I remain unconvinced that scattering of the god’s essence is the best course. The plan presented by my companions offers the only compassionate course, and yet, they have included provisions that would leave a former god defenseless in a world that can be harsh and unforgiving. What else can we do? I’ve seen glimpses of humanity in the god, which gives me hope that salvation can be attained.

Humanity is more than a condition of slowly approaching death. It is…the heart and soul of every good being, the thing all must strive for if we are to save our worlds.

I face my companions, my voice imbued with all the gravity of the situation. “Let it be done.”

Javren waves a hand, summoning the one who must enact the plan. The figure materializes within the circle formed by our gathering.

The god Janus looks to each of us in turn. “Why have you summoned me?”

“The problem we discussed with you has been decided,” I say. “We require you to enact the solution.”

“You shall destroy the one in question?”

“No.” I shut my eyes briefly, then meet Janus’s shimmering golden gaze. “We speak of the alternate plan. After much deliberation, we have agreed this is the only humane solution that will cause as little upheaval as possible in the mortal and Unseen realms.”

“Is this not too severe a punishment? And what if the being proves incapable of reformation?”

“That is the risk we must take. Two worlds lie in the balance.” I lean toward Janus, infusing my voice with the power and certainty of what must be done. “You know we do not make such a decision lightly. We urge you to do as we ask.”

“You wish me to adhere to the parameters declared when first we discussed the issue.”

“Precisely.”

Janus bows his head, silent and unmoving for a long moment. Then he looks up and nods once. “Your will shall be done.”

He vanishes—and the gears of time and space begin to crank.

I shut my eyes. “Oversoul, I beg you to protect us all. For we have done what we swore never to attempt, and the consequences may yet prove too dire for anyone to survive.”

For the gods who once feared the one we are punishing will now see an opening and seize it. Perhaps my companions cannot foresee what will come, since they are not oracles, but I need no magically empowered foresight to understand. Power abhors a vacuum.

And we have just ripped a hole in the fabric of two worlds.

1

Travis

“Close your eyes, inhale deeply, and let the sweet, sensual aromas all around you penetrate your senses. Imagine a bed with scarlet silk sheets and the softest cushioning you’ve ever felt, and picture me dragging that silk across your skin while I taste every part of your body. Sink into the fantasy, and soon, I will make it real for you.”

The blonde girl in my arms arches her back, grazing her torso against me, her lips falling open just enough that I could steal a taste of her if I wanted. She slides her tongue across her lower lip, moaning and tipping her head back to expose the slender column of her throat. The back of her head meets the brick wall behind her, and she writhes her hips as if she’s desperate for me to give her what I promised.

Yes, I’ll give it to her. In a minute or two. First, I need to get her so worked up that her lust will permeate her entire body.

I drag my tongue up her throat, groaning at the flavor of her skin. But it’s the scent of her that drives me wild. She will taste incredible, I know that for sure, but I won’t be eating her flesh. No, I plan to devour every iota of her sexual energy. That’s what an incubus does, after all. I can’t survive without that energy. How do I get it? By stripping this girl naked and giving her more pleasure than she could ever hope to receive from a mortal man. Oh yes, I love being a salamander, aka an incubus. When I’d been a mortal man, I did well enough with the ladies, but as a salamander… Oh yeah, I rock the bedroom. And anywhere else a girl wants me to take her—in both senses of the word. I could whisk this tasty morsel away to another world, literally, and show her my private lair in the Unseen realm, if I had a lair. I’m still shopping for the right one.

This girl won’t want to say goodbye once she’s had a taste of me.

Okay, I might’ve gone a little overboard there. But I honestly do love what I am. Most of the time.

“Yes,” the blonde breathes. “Please, yes, I want all of that.”

“And you’ll get it—soon.” I nibble on her earlobe, shuddering when a blast of hunger fires out of her into me, giving me a delicious appetizer. The taste of it intoxicates me. “Damn, you’re hotter than the Texas sun in July. I ain’t going to stop until you’re too weak to move from all the pleasure I’m fixing to give you.”

The girl’s brows knit together. Her lips tighten, and she peels her lids open, fluttering them as if she’s dazed. “What did you say?”

“I’m going to pleasure you for days, that’s what I said.” Not in those exact words, but that was the gist of it.

“No, the other thing.” She pulls her head away from the wall. “Fixing to? Ain’t? Pretty sure that’s what you said.”

Oh no, I did speak those words. I’ve spent months trying to shake off my old self, but sometimes it creeps back into my speech. Maybe I’m not one hundred percent committed to talking like a British person. The Unseen did arbitrarily decide to change my accent, without my permission. I was born a Texan and died a Texan, then I became a salamander. Nobody asked how I felt about that.

“Sorry,” I tell the girl. “Forget what I just said. Let me show you—”

“Hold on.” She bites one side of her bottom lip. “Why do you talk like a Texas cowboy when you have a British accent?”

Dammit all. Why do I keep slipping up?

“Never mind that,” I say, tugging her closer. “I want to—”

She wriggles out of my arms. “Sorry, but the way you talk is creeping me out. I mean, make up your mind, huh? Are you British or are you a cowboy?”

“I can be both, you know.” Now I sound annoyed. Perfect. That will convince this girl to let me seduce her for sure. Taking two slow breaths, I try to relax and recover from my blunder. “Let’s start over. We were hitting it off a minute ago.”

With more effort than I’ve needed to use in a long time, I amp up all the supernaturally enhanced pheromones I have inside me. I’d given her a low dose earlier, but now I release a large enough surge to make her swoon.

And she does just that. Her knees buckle, and I catch her.

I probably shouldn’t have tried to seduce her in an alley, twenty feet away from a dumpster. But I need privacy for this.

Movement to my right catches my attention. I rotate my gaze in that direction without turning my head.

A woman is standing on the other side of the dumpster, staring at me with wide eyes.

Who in tarnation is that?

“Go away,” I shout to her. “We’re having a private moment, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

The woman just stares at me.

“Fine, watch us if that’s how you roll.” Since I plan to whisk this girl away soon, the pretty little spy won’t see much. I turn my attention back to my quarry. “You want me, don’t you?”

“Yes, oh God, yes.”

A feminine snort of derision comes from the other side of the dumpster.

I don’t want to look at the pretty voyeur, but I can’t help it. The noise she made, full of condescension, spurs me to glance in her direction. No longer wide-eyed, she has her mouth twisted into a disgusted expression.

“Get your ass out of here,” I shout. “Or I’ll go over there and make you leave.”

“Please,” she says like she’s the queen of the world and expects everyone to bow down to her. “Can’t you get a girlfriend without drugging her senseless?”

The girl in my arms abruptly snaps out of her trance, probably because my annoyance with that obnoxious woman over there has doused all my pheromones. Dammit all to hell.

“I can’t do this,” the girl I’ve been trying to seduce announces. She shakes her head, biting her lip so hard it turns white. “Don’t know what I was thinking. I mean… No, this isn’t right.”

She scurries down the alley in the opposite direction from the giant trash receptacle.

And I stalk over to the woman who ruined my chances of feeding tonight. Once I round the corner of the dumpster, I get my first good look at her.

The woman is wearing what looks like a maid’s uniform with a skirt and top as well as god-awful sensible shoes, but even her drab clothing can’t detract from her sensual appeal. She has the kind of body any man, from any world, would love to enjoy all night—sensual curves, alabaster skin, raven hair tied into a ponytail that hangs down her back, and breasts that seem just the right size to fit in my palms. But it’s her eyes that seize my attention. Their pale, greenish-gold color reminds me of a cat’s eyes.

Yes, she is stunning. But the stupid girl wrecked my evening meal.

I tower over her, though she’s of average height for a woman. Leaning in just enough to project menace, I hope, I speak in a growling tone. “What are you doing in an alley at night, alone? Do you want to be eaten by a monster?”

“Monster?” she says with a slight laugh. “Please. You aren’t as terrifying as you think. I’ve seen much worse creatures than you.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t hang out in dark alleys.”

“Not my choice.” She points toward the dumpster. “Trash goes in there.”

I finally realize she has a large black plastic bag slumped on the ground behind her. “Why are you dumping your garbage here?”

The better question is why am I asking. The answer doesn’t matter at all.

She rolls her eyes and huffs. “Because I work here. In this fleabag motel.”

“Motel?”

“Are you mentally incompetent?” She points over her shoulder at the building behind her. “That’s the motel.”

“Oh. I see.” That fact had escaped my attention because I had teleported my quarry straight into this alley and there’s no sign back here announcing what the building is. “Well, go back to work, then.”

She eyes me up and down, licking her lips. “Let’s have sex.”

“What?” Two seconds ago, she hated me. Now she wants to screw me? She’s obnoxious and insane.

The woman gives me another oh-please look. “Are you deaf as well as blind? I said let’s have sex. You were trying to get it on with that silly girl. Now I’m offering you the chance to enjoy sex with a real woman.”

“No thanks. You stink of disinfectant and garbage.” Mostly, though, I don’t want to get it on with her because she’s so damn annoying. But her body… Oh yeah, I’d love to explore that for days and days.

Her posture wilts. Her head hangs down, and she moans pitifully.

That is not fair. Why does she have to look so sad? I’ve never been able to tell a pitiful woman to go to hell. I should walk away right now. Find a less…complicated girl to seduce. Something about this one makes me uneasy, though I can’t quite figure out the reason why. Mortals who aren’t my friends find me intimidating, usually. This woman doesn’t.

Time to exit this conversation.

I march down the alley until I’m sure the woman can’t see me anymore, then I zip myself away to the place where I’ve taken up temporary residence, not far outside of town. No idea why I chose Phoenix as my new hunting ground, but I’ve just moved here, and I refuse to leave the area because of one rude woman. Since she seems to like hanging out in the run-down part of town, I can easily avoid her.

Whoever that woman was, I will never see her again.

2

Larissa

I flip up the toilet lid and shove the cleaning brush into the filthy water, scrubbing furiously in the vain hope I can make this hellhole they call a motel seem less like the bowels of a demon. Why can’t people flush the toilet? Why can’t men aim better when they urinate? And why oh why do people try to flush away unflushable objects?

Those are the questions I often ask myself, but they are not the most vital ones. I will never find the answers I truly need, not until someone decides to share them with me.

I breathe through my nostrils to avoid inhaling the stench and keep scrubbing. Never in a million years would I have volunteered to become the cleaning woman at a vile motel where people come to screw each other, for money or for free, staying only a few hours at most. I’ve learned they call this kind of place a “seedy” motel. I think “slimy, wretched garbage heap” sounds more appropriate.

And what do seeds have to do with anything?

Ugh. I don’t want to know. It might involve “seed” of the sexual kind, and I do not need to endure the image of that type of fluid while I’m sanitizing a receptacle for…things I don’t want to imagine.

No need to imagine. I’ve seen everything. Yes, everything.

I trudge out of the room, heading for the next one while lugging all my cleaning paraphernalia. Yeah, the motel owner is too cheap to buy the kind of cart any other place like this would have. I stop at the next door and knock, announcing, “Housekeeping. May I come in?”

Silence. That’s my tacit permission to go in and clean up somebody else’s bodily secretions.

But movement catches my eye, and I glance down the walkway.

A little girl huddles beside the door to a room three units down, her knees drawn up and her arms locked around them. Dark hair falls over her face because she has her head down. But I know she has beautiful brown eyes.

Setting down my stuff, I walk to where the girl sits. Then I kneel in front of her. “Mommy’s busy with a friend again, hey?”

The girl raises her head, nodding while she bites her lip.

I know her name is Dani, and she’s a sweet six-year-old who loves coloring books and daisies. That’s all I know about her, since she rarely says much. But I’ve deduced the rest. Having seen her mother’s “friends” coming and going from the room she rents by the month, it’s obvious the woman is a prostitute. I don’t look down on women like her. She’s doing what she feels she has to do to survive, but my heart hurts for Dani. The little girl deserves better than getting locked outside while her mother takes care of business. In this neighborhood, it’s not safe for a child as young as Dani to be out here alone.

At least her mother doesn’t entertain “friends” every day.

“Want to come with me on my rounds again?” I ask.

Dani nods, her lips ticking up at the corners the tiniest bit.

I rise, and she gets up too. “How about we stop in the office to get some snacks first?”

“Chocolate?” she says in a soft, hesitant voice.

“Absolutely. Let’s pig out.”

She slips her little hand into mine while we head for the lobby, where the snack machines are. Then we eat chocolate-covered peanuts while we walk back to the room I’d been about to clean before I saw her. She helps carry my stuff into the room, and I turn on the TV so she can watch cartoons while I work.

By the time I finish cleaning all eighteen rooms, I feel achy all over and nauseous from the smell of disinfectant. Dani’s mom has said goodbye to her “friend,” so I drop the girl off there, then put my cleaning supplies back in the closet in the lobby.

I rub my aching back. God, I’d love a massage. Maybe that man I’d met in the alley would rub me down.

No, no, no. I might understand more than he thinks I do, but I am not stupid enough to beg a stranger to touch me. Except I had done that in the alley. Living a life of lonely desperation has made me, well, desperate for attention. Plus, I haven’t been touched or kissed or screwed in ages. I miss physical intimacy, and I mean more than sex. For too long, I’d been spoiled by always having someone around to cater to my needs, and I’d never wanted for a companion who would massage me from head to toe and love doing that.

But is that true intimacy? I don’t know anymore.

I can’t resist envisioning his body, from his wild, glistening black hair that I would love to knot my fingers in, to his insanely muscular body and the jaw-dropping bulge in his pants. Though he’d glamoured to make himself appear essentially human, I know his true skin must be tanned with a hint of a coppery sheen. That’s what all salamanders look like.

Now that I’m released from my daily servitude, I head home. Or I try to. Never had I lived in a city of any sort, much less a large one like this, before my circumstances were altered by means beyond my control. Once, I’d lived in the lap of luxury. Now, I need to stand on the curb waving my arms and shouting at every cab that drives by, praying one will stop to grant me the privilege of paying for a ride home.

After ten minutes of trying, I give up. Nobody wants to pick up a maid with disheveled hair and weird-colored stains on her skirt. So yet again, I’ll need to walk home down a street as seedy as the place where I work.

I’ve gone one block when I see him.

Yes, him. The insolent jerk who thinks I don’t understand anything. I’m used to others, especially male others, underestimating me. I’m not statuesque like all those models in magazines, which are apparently the gold standard for what a woman should look like. What complete nonsense. Men used to love my body. Women too. Everyone admired me and aspired to become like me.

Now I can’t get a fucking taxi to pick me up.

When I see that obnoxious male, I stop walking and consider going down an alley to avoid him. But alleys make me anxious. Dark, smelly places inhabited by rats, and human vermin too. For a minute or two, I weigh my options. Risk the alley, or encounter him. Stinky vermin, or rude male. Stinky, rude. Stinky, rude.

The decision is made for me when he turns this way.

And of course, the jerk walks toward me, sauntering in a distinctly male way that always makes me feel warm. I never even try to quash my desire for anyone, even if that someone happens to be a complete asshole. Desire is the nectar of life. And damn, the scent of it wafts off him in steamy, delectable waves.

Oh no. I can’t be falling for that old trick. I have never, never succumbed to it, and I refuse to do so now. Turn off your crummy pheromones, incubus, before I turn them off for you.

Not that I have a snowball’s chance of doing that.

He stops ten feet away and smirks at me. “You again? Come back to beg me to—”

“Shut up, you caveman, and move your ass. You are in my way.”

A chuckle rumbles out of him. “Damn, you are sassy. That’s okay. Doesn’t matter if you’re a prissy prude who’s got a stick up her ass. I’ll fuck you anyway.”

I huff. “Does that kind of crude talk actually work for you?”

He moves closer, narrowing the gap between us to an arm’s length—my arm’s length, not his. The man is huge. His voice becomes a sultry purr. “Since you heard me talking to that other girl, you know I can sweet-talk like nobody’s business.”

A tingle rushes over my skin, but it is not desire or anticipation. Absolutely not. I will never have sex with such a rude man, even if it has been far too long since I’ve enjoyed the company of…anyone. So what if I begged him for it earlier? That was one moment of insanity.

“Come on, sugar,” he says, inching closer still. “Let me show you what I’ve got.”

“Oh please. I know very well what you’ve got.” I cross my arms. “Maybe you were doing an adequate job of sweet-talking that silly child, but you ruined it when you started talking like a cowboy in a cheesy B-western.”

His lips tighten, and his eyes narrow.

It feels so good to knock him down a peg or two, since I haven’t had the power to do that to anyone in suck a long time. Maybe I enjoy it a little too much, because I can’t stop my mouth from generating more caustic words. “No wonder that silly child ran away. Talking like an ignorant lout is not sexy. You might have big muscles, but you are—”

He rushes forward, grasping my upper arms, and pulls me into his body. Oh holy heaven, he feels good, all heat and hardness and male deliciousness. I haven’t been this close to a man since—I swallow hard. Not since the night when another, much less polite man tried to stand in my way. I gave him a piece of my mind, and a piece of metal whacked into his skull.

The scent of this man envelops me in waves of spicy, seductive maleness. It’s pheromones, I know that. But my body wants me to sag into him and tip my head back for a kiss.

No, no, positively no.

“Let go of me,” I snarl.

“Why? You want me.” He dips his head to sniff my neck, then groans. “Damn, you smell good. Can’t wait to taste you.”

“You wanted that stupid girl too. I don’t like men who are so indiscriminate.” Of course I like that kind. I love sex, period, and never used to care how I got it. Maybe I was kind of a slut, but I’ve changed my ways. Okay, maybe I was given no choice but to change. That’s irrelevant right now.

“Don’t pitch a hissy fit,” he says in his British accent, which makes the words sound ludicrous. Then he drags his tongue up my throat while another, stronger wave of pheromones inundates my senses.

Oh my word, I want to beg him to take me. But I do not beg. Never.

“I can smell how much you want me,” he says in that deeply erotic rumble.

“You’re cheating. I only want you because you’re an incubus.” Oh shit. Why did I blurt that out? Now he knows I know, and that is never a safe situation to be in.

He lifts his head, squinting at me. “I’m a what?”

Since I’ve already jammed my filth-covered shoe in my mouth, I might as well keep going. “You are an incubus. That means you have supernatural pheromones that make it easy for a bumbling idiot like you to seduce women.”

“Bumbling idiot?” He takes one large step backward. “I could’ve had you in five seconds flat. But I don’t like stuck-up wannabe princesses who aren’t as hot as they think and who stink like they’ve been swimming in a sewer.”

Oh no. Do I actually stink? Damn that “seedy” motel.

I snap my spine straight and lift my chin. “Get out of my way. I have—well, things to do that are none of your business.”

Microwave a frozen dinner, that’s what I have to do. Those meals are almost as vile as the excrement I scrubbed out of toilets for eight hours today.

“What’s your name, Your Highness?” he asks. “Just so I’ll know what name to snarl the next time I bump into you.”

“There will be no more bumping. Stay away from this area. It’s mine.” I don’t want it, but yes, this grimy part of town has become my domain. No one else who inhabits this area would even know my name, much less agree that this neighborhood belongs to me. But I think of it as mine. When I gaze upon the giant asshole again, I can’t stop myself from saying, “In fact, get out of Phoenix altogether. Go haunt another city where the women are much stupider.”

He raises one brow and smirks. “It’s yours? Sorry, Your Highness, but this is a free country. That means I can go wherever I want.”

“Well, go someplace else.”

“Maybe I will.” He tips his head to the side, sliding his gaze down my body and back up again. “If you let me give you the most intense pleasure you will ever experience.”

“All you care about is devouring sexual energy.”

“Yeah, but I only get that if I make you come so hard your eyes roll back in your head.”

That sounds wonderful. I want it, but I can’t let him touch me. But oh, I need it.

“All right,” I say, having no clue why I speak those words.

His brows hike up. “You’re saying yes? The prissy princess wants me to fuck her the dirty way all night long?”

Oh yes, please do that to me.

Despite my lustful thoughts, I shrug. “You seem desperate for sex.”

“Gee, thanks, Your Highness. I’m honored you would deign to do the nasty with me.” He screws up his mouth and shakes his head. “Forget it. I can find a much nicer girl to seduce.”

He turns to walk away.

I grab his arm. When he squints at me over his shoulder, I clear my throat. “Who are you, anyway?”

“Why do you care?”

“So I know whose name to add to the sex offender registry.”

“You are one stone-cold piece of work.” He twists his torso to haul me into his body with one arm lashed around my waist. “Travis Blackwell.”

“Travis? That’s a terrible name. And since when does an incubus have a surname?”

He shoves me away. “What’s your perfect, high-and-mighty name, princess?”

“Larissa Robustelli.”

“And you think my name is stupid,” he says with a laugh. “Go on, scurry home to your castle, Larry.”

“My name is Larissa, not Larry.” That might not be my original name, but he doesn’t need to know that. “Why don’t you scurry home to your lair, caveman.”

He smacks my bottom. “You’ll miss me. Go on, admit it.”

“Ugh.” I push past him, then whirl around to knee him in the groin. “Good riddance.”

I stalk away from him.

Maybe I should’ve mentioned that I recognized his name. I’ve heard it more times than I can count, but I’d never met the man until today. It’s hard to believe he is the same creature who helped save two worlds, twice. Or was it three times? Who cares.

But damn him, I stay awake half the night remembering how good that odious man smells.