Free Lust by Bonnie Bliss

She was dressed in white slacks and a tight white shirt with the three top buttons undone. Her long brown hair was tied in a tail, which hung over her right shoulder. Those eyes matched, deep brown, hiding a dark, tortuous past. Her face could make any normal man stop and stare in a trance, but she usually softened the effect with her many powers. She made him, an archangel, seem so irrelevant.
    "Oh, sweet brother, stop belittling yourself with negative thoughts. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't even be here."
    "Do you have to keep invading my head, sis?"
    Tai smiled at him, almost melting his heart. "I'm not doing any such thing. It's written on your face. If your eyes were a sonnet, I'd have tears in my eyes right now."
    Jared shook his head.
    "But seriously, you need to pull yourself together, get your act together. If you're not careful you will end up tripping on God's great banana skin and we can't have that. I like your arse just as it is, not some pile of raw chicken meat after being dragged on the cobbles."
    "There's nothing going on. I have her protected, we've been free for months now. Did your sweet Luke send you?"
    "God, no. He's busier than ever. Always doing something bad and not having to really try. Nope, I'm here all on my lonesome. I've come to litter you with some wisdom and whole truths."
    "How is the whole marriage thing going?"
    "Hm, marriage. Is it marriage? We fucked well enough before all the damned pomp and circumstance. I guess it was the natural course of things, and we live happily in perpetual semi retirement.” She let out a breath of air, her gaze lingering. She was distracted again. “But you are changing the subject. Elizabeth Cromwell is off limits."
    "I know. Hence the last twenty-odd years doing..."
    "Not him─you, J. You can't have her. Not meant to happen, not going to happen. The whole plan goes to shit if you and her get intimate."
    "Crossbreeding you mean, don't you? Are you forgetting your own genus, Tai?"
    She laughed at him. "Crossbreeding is fun, lovey. Just not between you and her. She is meant for someone else. You getting in the way complicates things. You seem to forget. Ever since Asmodeus turned up at the Cromwell plantation, events have been planned and flow in a direction we want it to. I brought you in to protect her because I trusted you. Luke trusts you. The plan must find its path. And you need to step aside."
    Jared took a deep breath. Tai was always his voice of reason. Yet, deep inside, he wanted Elizabeth, more than anything. He doubted he could let her go so easily, or without a fight. He would die for her if need be. Asmodeus wouldn't have her, he was sure of it. Together, they would break the deal.
    "You know more than you let on. Is there anything you want to tell me?" He asked.
    "You know enough, and what you don't know, won't hurt you─until it's too late."
    "Gee, thanks. So I'm going to get my ass kicked."
    "If you do, can I watch?"
    "Only if you join in. I like to watch you fight."
    Tai smirked at him.
    "Seriously though, sweet sister, all this planning. Is it to bring him down so you can regain the throne?"
    She laughed. "The emperor’s throne, the kingdom of the nine hells. Luke and I have houses in Monaco, in Miami and Malibu, London, Paris and Rome. We don't want to give all that up and live in a hellish shit hole again. Been there done that, worn the scars and cured the hives. No thank you, brother. Retirement suits me. I've not worn underwear since, love the freedom and the complimentary tingles that human males give me when they stare. And I can go home, walk through the door, knowing my dearly beloved Luke will tend to me. It is something Asmodeus seeks, true love. I have it. Luke is my heart, my soul, my lover and friend. It is a simple thing. Something that happens, not something plotted or planned, or devised. I saw my love through the battlefield, one look and we both knew. We grew together through hardship and war, becoming one. Nothing