“We can only shift into similar-sized, live birth species. No egg-layers. We can go up to twice as large as ourselves but not smaller.” The females had to be capable of bearing a Seminus’s young, and smaller demons wouldn’t fare well if forced to give birth to a larger species.

He realized he was stroking her wrist with his thumb, drawing her closer, easing her into relaxation, an incubus trick of seduction. Only this time, it was he who was succumbing. How many human women could have adapted to his world so quickly and with so little fear and reservation? She should be terrified about the changes in him, but she’d rolled with the punches—his raging sexual need last night, the fact that he could impregnate her at will, and now, she wanted him to shapeshift into something potentially horrifying.

She was magnificent. If not for his curse, he’d be thanking his lucky stars that Roag had forced him to mate with her.

“I’m not sure how to shift,” he admitted.

“Well, when I shift outside the moon phase, I just picture myself shifting … and it happens.”

Eidolon had said something similar, that being in the presence of a demon helped one to turn into that species, but otherwise, the key was concentration. Shade cycled his mind through dozens of different species and in the end decided not to terrorize Runa too much. He settled on a Sora demon. He concentrated … and in moments, he felt the sting of stretching skin, the agony of popping joints, and the next thing he knew, he had bright red skin, long nails, and a whiplike tail.

Cool.

Runa had backed up a step, but she watched him with curiosity, not fear. “You look like a cartoon devil. You just need a pitchfork.”

He laughed, because Tayla had said the same thing about Ciska, the Sora nurse at UG. The one who could do amazing things with her tail …

Which gave him a wicked idea.

He whipped his tail up, catching Runa at the waist. She didn’t resist as he pulled her toward him, though she swallowed audibly when she noticed his erection. He looked down, and yup, that sucker was worthy of a little trepidation. It pulsed a deep, dark crimson, and the head was broad, the tip glistening with a drop of liquid arousal.

Still, he didn’t sense fear from her.

“It’s so easy for you, isn’t it?” she murmured.

“What’s easy?”

“Sex. Seducing women.”

Shade drew a finger across the tops of her br**sts. “It’s what I am.” Slowly, he slid his tail down her bare butt. “Spread your legs.”

She hesitated for a mere heartbeat before obeying. He slipped his tail between her thighs and feathered the tip over the pad of her sex. She made a sound, the tiny, feminine catch in her breath he loved to hear.

He trailed the fingers of both hands to her ni**les, and he used his slightly elongated nails to pluck them gently as he tickled her sex with his tail. What a handy appendage. So maybe this s’genesis thing wasn’t all bad.

For a mated male, at least.

Dipping his head, he swiped his tongue along the seam of her mouth, demanding that she open for him. When she did, he slid inside her mouth, tasting the faint tang of toothpaste, and he wondered when she’d found the time—and energy—to brush her teeth this morning. Eager to taste more, to take more, he thrust his tongue against hers and started an easy, penetrating rhythm that had her clutching his shoulders and rolling her h*ps against him with the same carnal timing.

Before Runa, he’d never enjoyed kissing, had detested the intimacy of the act. But he loved how she put her soul into every kiss. She wasn’t practiced, but what she lacked in experience she made up for in emotion and effort.

One of her hands dropped between them, and her fingers skimmed over the head of his c*ck to play in the slick moisture there. Groaning, he threw back his head and let her play, something she hadn’t done since this whole nightmare began. Runa had given him so much last night, and it was time to return the favor.

He dropped his mouth to her ear, nipped the lobe lightly. “You smell like me, Runa. Did you know that every time I come inside you, my essence permeates every part of you? Your blood, your hair, your cells.” She shuddered, but from his words or the fact that he’d worked his tail between her folds and was stroking slowly, he didn’t know. “And your skin, it tastes like me. I want to taste you everywhere.”

It was his turn to shudder as he remembered the other night when he’d captured her arousal with his finger and brought it to his mouth. She’d been decadent, smooth and rich with a bite like Irish cream.

His blood pounded through him in an erotic surge that had him dropping to his knees. He worshipped her flat abdomen, skimmed his tongue from her navel to the boundary marked by her soft, caramel curls. At her breathless gasp, he looked up at her. She watched him with wide eyes, and he realized that this was the first time his mouth had been close to this beautiful, feminine place. Even when they’d been dating he hadn’t taken the time to love her like this.

Idiot. So much time wasted.

“Spread your legs wider,” he commanded and, still watching him, she did.

Keeping his gaze on her, he pierced her slit with his tongue. Instantly, her eyes glazed over and her lips parted. The erotic sight would have brought him to his knees if he hadn’t already been on them. Desperate for more, he palmed her thighs to hold them apart as he spread her feminine lips with his thumbs.

He captured her hot flesh with his mouth, first licking at her and then sucking in long, gentle pulls. Her hands clutched his hair, holding him, but he wasn’t going anywhere. Not when the sweetest nectar on earth and Sheoul was pouring down his throat, lighting him up from the inside out.

“Shade, oh, yes …” She pumped her h*ps and cl**axed hard, her body jerking with such force that he had to hold her in place as he finished her off. When her muscles began to quiver as her orgasm tapered, he pushed to his feet, lightheaded, his body aching for her.

“Do you want me to change back?” he asked as he ran his hands up and down her arms, feeling the strong muscles beneath her silky skin.

“No,” she whispered. “This is part of who you are.”

Hell’s fires. The blast of emotion that came from her rattled his bones and melted his organs. This was dangerous, but he couldn’t stop himself. He needed to be inside her.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, and he entered her gently, his size stretching her as he seated himself to the root deep inside. “I’m hurting you,” he moaned. “I have to change back.”

She grasped his face in both hands and held him with her gaze. “Stay. Please.”

He had no choice. Compelled to do her bidding, he began to thrust, slowly. Her tight heat squeezed him with exquisite pressure, and he managed to go slow and easy for a few thrusts before instinct took over. He pumped into her like a demon possessed, which, he supposed, he was. She called out his name, over and over, and each time he heard his name fall from her perfect lips, he had to bite his cheek to keep from coming.

He gave up when she rocked her head forward and bit deeply into his shoulder. His orgasm shot up his spine with such force he felt it blow through his skull. Runa screamed with her own release, her tight clasp milking him through another orgasm, and another, until he lost count.

They collapsed against the wet stone. His legs were so shaky he could barely hold himself up, and he suddenly realized it was Runa’s strength that kept him from sliding to the ground into a mindless puddle. At some point he’d taken his true form again. Interesting that he hadn’t felt the transformation. Weakly, he checked himself out to make sure all parts were present and accounted for, but as he studied his hands, his heart stopped.

His fingers flickered from solid to transparent and back again. His chest began to cramp as his heart took on a random rhythm dictated by terror.

Damn … oh, damn.

Runa arched, bucked with such force his sex slid out of her wet depths. Though he trembled so hard he nearly slipped on the slick stone beneath his feet, he held her through it, and when she eased, he glanced at his hands one more time, and he knew.

The curse had activated.

Chapter 13

“That was amazing,” Runa murmured against Shade’s shoulder. Drops of water beaded on his skin, and she lapped at them, savoring the cool splash of wetness on her dry tongue. She tasted jungle heat, fresh earth, and powerful male.

He moaned, still leaning on her and pinning her against the wet stone. He held her tight, closer, it seemed, than he ever had. He’d been gentle, caring, his big body shuddering against her. He’d broken her heart a year ago, but she could feel it beginning to heal.

Naturally, Shade couldn’t allow the warm fuzzies to last. He pushed away from her, and without looking her in the eyes, he strode into the cave. And was it her imagination, or did he seem to be transparent in places? She’d seen him turn practically invisible in a shadow … but this seemed different. A side effect of his shift into another species of demon?

She stepped into the waterfall to rinse—how cool was it that he had a natural shower built into his dwelling? — and when she finished, she found him in the kitchen, his hair still wet but dressed in his usual black leather garb.

Including gloves.

His hands shook a little, and tension surrounded him like a blanket. Was he uncomfortable with the closeness they’d shared? Something was up, and he still wouldn’t meet her gaze.

“Are we going somewhere?”

Ignoring her question, he tossed her a bath towel and slid a plate across his dining room table. “Eat.”

Wrapping the towel tight around her, she stared at the ham and cheese sandwich, and though she was starving, the sudden awkwardness between them unsettled her stomach. “I’m not hungry.”

His gaze finally caught hers, and her breath hitched at the sight of the dark shadows in his eyes. “Yes, you are. I can sense it.”

Damn him and his senses. He bit into his own sandwich as though ravenous.

“How come I can’t sense your hunger?” she asked.

“Dunno. Eat.”