Page 10 of Decadence

A hard-faced, amber-eyed, black-clad Kordolian.

He definitely wasn’t one of the assistants.

Her heart skipped a beat.

This guy wore his authority like a well-worn coat; naturally, unselfconsciously, so much so that it seemed like an extension of his lean, muscular frame.

Behind her, the assistant quietly slipped away, melting into the darkness, leaving Sienna all alone with this perfect stranger.

Great. Now I’m stuck on my own in this little room with Commander freaking Darkness, and there’s nobody around to hear me scream.

Predictably, the seamless black doors had already sealed shut behind her.

The alien held out a black-gloved hand and waved in the general direction of all the blackness. “Please, take a seat.” He spoke in perfect Universal, with barely a trace of an accent in his voice.

For a moment, Sienna just stood there, transfixed, until she realized that the silence between them was becoming painfully awkward.

“Ahem. Th-thank you.” Her Universal was a little rusty—she hadn’t really used it much since she’d graduated from Technical College—and she suspected her accent was fucking terrible, but it was good enough to get by. She cleared her throat, unable to take her eyes off the Kordolian.

His features were sharp and elegant and utterly alien. Razor-sharp cheekbones, strong jaw, sensual lips. Snow-white hair and eyebrows that contrasted with his shimmering skin, which was more tungsten than silver. His ears were wickedly pointed and his pale hair was unbound and slightly messy, falling just past his ears.

The tousled hair seemed out of place somehow; a strange kind of imperfection against his sharp, precise, alien beauty.

And then there were those eyes…

Perfectly golden and slightly narrowed, looking at her with such piercing intensity that she had to resist the urge to squirm.

Who the hell is this guy?

He looked like a real hardass. Definitely military. Definitely a warrior. Someone who wielded weapons and gave strict orders and had probably killed a few people in his time…

Or maybe lots of people.

Definitely not the kind of person she’d associate with if she had a choice.

Could he be…?

The memory of the powerful, mysterious Shadow that had rescued her rose up inside her without warning, sinking its dark, delicious tentacles into every pore of her body. Terror mingled with fascination and the indelible memory of feeling safe after all the horror.

And now, looking at this striking Kordolian whose face she had never ever seen before, a strange feeling rose up inside her.

Damnit, Kyuri was right. There was something so dangerously compelling about him.

Why were her palms sweaty all of a sudden? Why was her heart racing at a million miles an hour?

Why was a hint of a tendril of a thrill snaking its way down into her core and pooling in her lower belly, sliding between her legs, paralyzing her right where she stood?

She knew why.

This guy, who looked like power and dangerousness personified, was undeniably fucking hot.

She found all the Kordolians to be incredibly striking; tall, silver-skinned dark-elves that could have stepped right out of some high-fantasy wet-dream, but this guy… there was something different about him.

There was a hard edge to him that both enthralled her and triggered a red flag so fucking big it could have been seen from space.

See, Sienna had previously dated not one, but two powerful men, and in both cases, she’d become the proverbial Icarus, her wings melting spectacularly before she even realized she’d flown too close to the sun.

The first had been a famous chef; the second, a gangster. Michael and Connor. Both had been intense, passionate, driven, and possessive—too possessive—with a mean-streak a mile wide against their enemies.

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