He winked and offered his million-watt grin, his teeth startlingly white against his bronzed complexion, his wavy brown hair tousled as if he’d just rolled out of bed.
Approval shone in her eyes. “And you are?”
“Vespar,” Racan said, cutting them off before it went any further, as it had between her and him. “Our other partner, which is all you need to know.” He tapped the book to get her full attention. “Some pages constitute the table of contents, others the index, so we’re talking approximately two thousand sheets with vital information you need to read, memorize, absorb, and live as if your future depended upon it, because it does.”
She stared at the cover. “This isn’t even in English. I don’t read devil.” She shoved the thing at him.
He conjured a huge chain for her neck, similar to what Dickens envisioned for Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol.
Her eyes narrowed. “How in the fuck am I supposed to read this crap?”
“Whoa.” Andros stood. “That’s sacred text you’re insulting. I’d watch it if I were you.”
Racan worked his mouth to stop his grin.
Vespar’s back was to them, quiet laughter shaking his shoulders, the mirrors showing his lips pressed together.
She regarded his reflection. “Sacred. Sure.” She faced Racan. “So I spend the next five hundred years or more learning your language, then slogging through this stuff?”
“Don’t be absurd.” He crowded her.
She didn’t retreat.
He admired her spunk. His balls loved it. They plumped to a painful point, competing with his lengthening cock. If it got any harder, he could use it to drill marble. “Once you open the book, the text will be in English, whatever version you use, even if it includes double negatives and slang. We take our operation seriously and you will, too. As far as having years to learn this”—he rapped the book—“your shift starts in a half hour. By the way, I know what you were trying to do before.”
Confusion filled her features. “Huh?”
He touched his cheek to hers, his lips close to her ear.
She trembled and then softened.
His cock couldn’t have been harder. He had trouble keeping it in his jeans and his hands to himself but somehow managed to control his urges. “You don’t claw through the walls, doors, or anything down here to escape, ever. Or try to put one over on us. That’s not happening even if you think it is. Your disobedience and whining in here reduced your study time to twenty minutes. Better get cracking.”
Chapter Three
Vespar
Although Megan had zero chance of escape, Vespar clasped her wrist and held back an appreciative sigh. He liked touching her, so sue him. However, going beyond the physical wasn’t something he’d ever do.
Countless lovesick males suffered down here. Guys who’d willingly—no, eagerly—sold their souls to get a woman to want them or at least notice their existence. That shit never worked. While they served eternity in an unspeakable prison, their ladyloves ascended to the castle in the sky and men they truly craved. No matter how many ironclad contracts were involved, those women never freely gave their hearts to the damned. Magic wasn’t love. Coercion couldn’t match raw desire in intensity or permanence. The poor schmucks never realized that truth until they landed here.
To Vespar, love was a four-letter word only the deluded would consider. Getting seriously down and dirty while throwing in BDSM and other delights was enough for him.
He increased his hold on her wrist, not enough to harm but to show he meant business. “Let’s go.”
She held back. “To where?”
Piercing screams and roaring bass blared from Hard Lust, rattling everything in this room, including his teeth. “Someplace quieter where you can concentrate on the rules.”
“Make certain she does,” Andros said.
Racan nodded, a warning in his eyes not to succumb to her charms.
They didn’t have to worry about him. He knew the score when it came to women. Stay in charge, never concede an inch, and prepare for every eventuality. He hadn’t a clue what that might be with her, but wouldn’t let anything faze him.
He led her into the hall. An ordinary looking area paneled in dark wood and lit by fancy wall lamps and ornate chandeliers, the fixtures in crystal and gold. The relative quiet in here proved a shock after the noisy office. Behind them stood the door they’d just come through. Facing them was another door, identical in appearance to the first.
She glanced down the hall to the left and right. No exits or entrances in either direction.
When he didn’t open the door in front, she eyed it longingly. “What’s that lead to?”
“The outside.”
She sucked in a breath, hope sparking in her eyes. “Seriously?”
“Would I lie to you?”
Her features hardened and then went stoic.
He bumped her shoulder. A playful gesture he couldn’t help. Her brief joy got to him on a level most things couldn’t touch. Still… Enjoying her happiness wasn’t wise given what she faced. He pretended disinterest. “If you don’t believe me, open it.” He gestured to the silver handle, the symbol for resist engraved on it.
She tucked the handbook beneath her arm, reached out to the handle, but promptly snatched back her hand. “It’s going to burn me, isn’t it?”
“Nope.”
“Strike me dead?”
He laughed.
Andros’s loud throat clearing sounded from inside the office.
Vespar sobered. “Nothing can kill you down here, because you’re already… Uh…” He didn’t have the heart to state the obvious. Her trial by fire had only begun. She didn’t need more shit to make it worse. “Nothing’s going to happen. Go on, I won’t stop you.”
She glanced at his fingers wrapped around her wrist.
He released her and stepped back. “Better?”
She tossed her handbook aside, opened the door, and froze.
Orange and black smoke swept across the desolate landscape, shrieking gales tearing the plumes apart. In several spots, fires ignited spontaneously, belching soot and vapor over the barren terrain. Craggy mountains, boulders larger than mansions, and volcanic ash dotted with reddish sparks completed the repellant scene.
A sulfur stench overwhelmed the air. Hissing joined the howling wind, the heat merciless.
In another second, the hairs on his legs might ignite.
Coughing, she fought to close the door, using her shoulder and full weight to shut it.