Free The Demon's Seduction by Lisa Alder

correct. But--”
    “But we need the love of humans.” Zepar ground out.
    “Yes, but we cannot force them to fall in love,” Prince Gaap said patiently.
    Zepar knew that first hand. Out of sheer frustration, he burst out. “I don’t understand why I can’t get one single human to fall in love with me.”
    Pity and some other deep emotion darkened Leraye's eyes. “You have missed the point completely. It’s about being in love with each other.” Leraye’s mouth softened into a smile that Zepar had never seen before.
    “And that’s what you think you have with Thalia?” Zepar waited expectantly. Waited for the denial. Waited for the laughter where Leraye confessed that no, that wasn’t what he and Thalia shared. They shared sex.
    Very hot sex.
    Pictures of Leraye and Thalia slithered through his mind. Thalia with her head thrown back in ecstasy, her body flushed with desire. Thalia with the look of a woman sated. Leraye, his muscles hard, brutal, clenched while an orgasm ripped through his body.
    “Yes.” Leraye looked almost as surprised as Zepar felt. “I am in love with her.”
    The unexpected twist of jealousy struck him. He didn’t want them together. “And she feels the same?”
    Leraye hesitated.
    Triumph roared through him. “Hah. She does not.”
    “Not yet. But I hope she will grow to love me.”
    “Look at you.” Zepar snarled. “Simpering about love. Where is the warrior?”
    Leraye said, “Are you that miserable that you will not allow us some measure of happiness?”
    “You realize what she is doing?”
    Leraye raised his brows, a look of cynical disregard on his hewn features.
    “She is seducing you for her own gain.” The words spewed out of his mouth, an almost desperate attempt to turn Leraye and Thalia against each other. “I have taught her well.”
    “Enough,” Leraye roared. Every muscle in his body tensed and Zepar realized he had pushed his friend too far. He also noted the lines of tension around Leraye’s eyes. His friend was thinking, assessing strategy as he did when he prepared for battle.
    “I want her,” Leraye said calmly, softly.
    “I’ll allow it.” The Prince, who both had forgotten was even in the room, acquiesced. “For now.”

THIRTEEN
    Thalia tugged playfully at Leraye’s hand. “Come with me.”
    “I thought I already did that.”
    She giggled. Actually giggled.
    The last few days had been amazing. Since she had agreed, and the Prince allowed she and Leraye to be consorts, her days had been filled with training her replacement, Judy, the blonde from the awful night with Zepar, and her nights had been filled with Leraye and love.
    A sense of contentment settled over her.
    He was an adventurous lover. They’d engaged in sex play all over the castle grounds, some places more fun than others. But she knew not all was well. They both had emotional demons to exorcize and she planned to help Leraye over the one place that she knew haunted him.
    She headed toward the dungeon steps.
    His fingers tightened on hers. “What are you doing?”
    “We’re going to engage in a little bondage.” She tugged him toward the cells where the Demons kept their enemies.
    “You’re going to let me tie you up?” Leraye grinned, his teeth flashed white in his ferocious face as he leered at her.
    Oops. Perhaps she'd been too playful. She didn't want to flat out lie to him but she feared if she explained he would balk, so she avoided answering. She knew he needed this to move forward.
    Thalia paused on the winding steps, her back against the cool stone wall, and pulled him into her embrace. The hard planes of his chest flattened her breasts and his engorged cock rubbed against her stomach in a slow, seductive caress. But as he tilted his head and moved in for the kiss, he had a serious look in his eyes. His fingers were hard in hers, and the tight grip belied the relaxed mood.
    With one more squeeze of his fingers, he fitted his mouth to hers.
    Thalia curled her arms