Addictions of a Sex Demon by Jaye Shields

all the help we can get.”
    Sephina smiled. “I knew you’d come around.”

Chapter 10
     
    “Where the fuck have you been!” Zahra’s frantic voice
accosted Sephina as soon as she entered the room. Tears glistened in her
sister’s eyes and Sephina rushed toward Zahra to wrap her in a hug. Zahra
didn’t cry often, but now her body shook with unrestrained sobs as she clutched
Seph close. “I thought you were lying in a ditch somewhere. I thought you’d
relapsed or someone had tried to steal a succubus. There are some sick fucks
out there...”
    Seph sucked in a breath. Zahra thought this way because
nearly all of those things had happened, especially the relapsing and lying in
a ditch part. “I’m sorry. If it makes you feel better, I did get kidnapped.”
    Lennox’s voice grumbled dangerously from the front door.
“Speaking of sick fucks.”
    Sephina turned out of Zahra’s embrace and saw Lennox’s
broadsword pointed at Axel’s neck. “Easy, Lennox.” She’d seen her
brother-in-law kill men with that sword. “This isn’t a sick fuck. It’s the
demon that saved my life.”
    Lennox sheathed the sword but continued to appraise Axel.
“He’s bleeding.”
    “Actually I’m called Axel Stavros.”
    “And he’s a smartass.” Lennox growled his response.
    “Gods, what happened, Seph?” Zahra paid no attention to the
verbally dueling dudes.
    “Isn’t anyone going to ask her why she’s wearing a burlap
sack?” Axel sounded in utter disbelief.
    Zahra turned to him with impatience simmering in her bright
yellow gaze. “A family of succubi don’t ask these kinds of questions. When you
need near constant climax to thrive, sometimes clothes are quite cumbersome.
Get used to it, quetzalem.”
    Seph smacked Zahra playfully on the back of the head. “If
you guys are done hazing my boyfriend, we have hunters to discuss.”
    Lennox’s innocent baby blue’s glinted with a silver storm.
“Hunters sound like his problem.”
    “Well, brother, I love him, so his problems are our problems
now.”
    “You love me?”
    “You love him?” Lennox and Axel both looked astonished.
    “Oops.” Seph blushed. Guess that demon’s out of the bag.
    “Aw, congratulations.” Zahra wrapped Seph into a giant hug
so tight her feet lifted off the ground.
    Lennox’s slapped Axel on the back and the sound cracked
through the room. “Welcome to the family, asshole. Break her heart and I’ll
sever your head.”
    “Noted.”
    * * * *
    Axel bristled at the blacksmith’s words, but in truth, they
warmed his heart. Any man being protective over Sephina was a good man in his
book. Axel would just have to prove that he wouldn’t be doing any heartbreaking.
He’d rather walk into Lennox’s sharp blade and drive the thick sword through
his own heart.
    Sephina had said she loved him.
    Axel moved away from Lennox and stole Seph from her sister’s
grip. Capturing her within his arms, he dipped her back and kissed her. She was
weightless in his arms and the injuries in his back completely forgotten. As he
tasted her, the sweet, spicy aroma rolling off her skin enveloped him. He
wanted to wake up in the scent and taste her lips every morning. Reluctantly,
he released her to address the ogre in the room.
    “I’d like to explain the hunters, but we’re pressed for
time.” A loud smack interrupted his words as Sephina’s tiny palm connected with
his backside.
    Lennox grinned. “That means you’re official.” The blacksmith
flexed his strong arms and folded them over his broad chest. “Now, tell me of
the hunters.”
    “They’ll be a day’s ride from here, and I cannot anticipate
their numbers. Probably not greater than twenty. They will be traveling out of
realm, so they can’t travel in large groups and attract too much attention. If
the Knights of the Fog detect their nature as quetzalem hunters, the portal
realm law enforcement won’t hesitate to arrest them.”
    Zahra began braiding her long, black hair into a