Her Soul to Take (Souls Trilogy)

Dazed with the remnants of the roofie in my system, for a moment I thought I was staring down an assassin who was about to kill me. The man glared at me, his gaze furious from the eyeholes of the balaclava obscuring his face. But that glare was as golden as the sun, and the moment realization dawned on me, I yanked myself out of Sam’s grasp and flung my arms around him.

Leon’s scent enveloped me, soft citrus and smoke. Comfort. Safety. I never would have imagined feeling a demon’s arms tighten around me would provide that feeling, but I could have cried from relief at seeing him again. He was dressed entirely in black: cargo pants, boots, and some kind of tight military jacket. The perfect costume to completely obscure his identity.

“I was beginning to think you’d forgotten me, doll,” he growled, holding me close with his hand gripping tight on the nape of my neck. “It was a cute little show you put on grinding between these two, but it gave me a feeling you’ve forgotten who you belong to.”

Zane chuckled, but Sam was glaring. “Maybe if you’d paid a little bit closer attention, it wouldn’t have been necessary.”

Leon cocked his head curiously, his fingers toying with my hair, tugging at it lightly as if he was resisting the urge to pull. The only parts of his face that could be seen were his eyes and his mouth, which was twisted into a smirk. “Juniper Kynes…so grown up now.”

I gasped at her name. Juniper — the last sacrifice. The failed sacrifice.

She remained grim-faced. “I’m not a scared little girl anymore. I’m much better armed than I was at fifteen.”

“So glad you remember me.” Leon glanced cautiously down the hall. He was no longer holding me against his chest, but he kept his arm around my shoulders as I stood beside him. “Hold on to that anger. It keeps you strong.”

I’d never seen a person move so fast. Juniper whipped out a knife she’d had tucked beneath her jacket and pressed the blade up against Leon’s mouth. Zane groaned, and I felt Leon stiffen just slightly as I sucked in my breath.

“You’re lucky Zane has any affection for you,” she hissed. “Because you were first on my list.”

My fingers tightened on Leon’s jacket, my hand balling into a fist. If this bitch thought she could threaten my —

“Easy, girl.” I wasn’t sure if Leon was referring to me, her, or both. The tension went out of him. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”

When she didn’t immediately move the knife away, Leon ran his forked tongue along the blade. Blood welled up as he tasted the knife’s edge, and dripped over his lips, staining his teeth as he gave her smile.

“Enjoy the party,” he said, gave Zane a quick wink, and kept me close as he walked away.

But he didn’t walk me back toward the party. He headed the opposite direction, further down the hall, where the house was quieter and the music was a subtle beat that rumbled the floor. The wall to our right was all glass, giving a view over the lawn toward the trees. He didn’t say a word, but I felt his tension building up again, heat and hardness under his skin. We turned a corner, near a stairway leading to the upper floor, and in a move so quick it left me dizzy, he yanked me from his side and pinned me to the wall.

His kiss tasted of iron as his hand wrapped around my throat, the tightness of his grip barely restrained as his bleeding tongue played over mine. He’d asked if I’d forgotten him, but my body would never forget. His kiss was like firecrackers going off in my head, an instant hot rush that tingled all the way down to my toes. His blood stained my mouth like a wicked offering, my belly tightening up as his body pressed to me, and I felt the hardness of his cock against my hip. 

His taste was violence, his blood the sweetest sin I’d ever consumed.

He squeezed my throat, urging a whimper out of me as our mouths parted for a brief moment and he gave me a bloody grin.

“Fuck,” My voice cracked as I gasped. He extended his forked tongue, blood still slowly welling from the cut across it, and I couldn’t resist. I tasted his tongue with mine, caught it between my lips and sucked until our mouths met again: bloody and vile, perverted as hell.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing here, Rae?” His voice was rough, exasperated. “Already trying to hop on the next demonic dick you encounter?”

“We were just dancing,” I muttered. “I —”

“Oh, don’t worry, doll.” His fingers caressed my cheek, and he used his thumb to wipe his blood from around my mouth as he kept his grip on my throat. “I’m not jealous. It’s cute how desperate you are. But I think you know that no one else will fuck you like I can.”

I gulped, looking up at him as he loomed over me. “You left,” I said softly. “You left me.”

He shrugged. “You didn’t make me stay.”

“I’ve been so fucking scared, Leon.”

His hold softened, a wince flickering over his face. He didn’t give me any distance, as if he was afraid I might slip away. “Fucking hell, Rae. Why the hell did you come here?”

“I didn’t exactly have a choice,” I said, frowning despite my arousal. “I need a way to protect myself and I thought maybe I’d find something here.”

Leon’s eyes flickered back down the hall, pausing at whatever noise he’d heard, before turning his skeptical gaze back on me. “So you’re here to sneak around in Kent Hadleigh’s own house? To search for a weapon?”

“Yes,” I said, folding my arms — although the motion didn’t have as much petulant impact when I was pinned by my throat to the wall. “Are you going to help me or not?”

“Help you —” He gave a single, hard laugh. “I’ll help you over my knee is what I’ll do.”

His hold tightened again, and another whimper squeaked out of me, this one sharp in anticipation. His free hand moved down, settled near my hip then gripped my ass, before giving it a sharp spank.

His grip choked my sharp intake of breath at the sting. “I knew I should have marked you,” he growled. “I’m not a jealous being, Rae, but I don’t like to see you play without being marked as mine before anyone else.” His eyes flickered down, then his head lowered too. He pushed up my sweater, kissing slowly, tenderly along my breasts above my bra, before biting my flesh hard enough to make me yelp.

“I told you I wanted to pierce these,” he said. “You’d look so good with my metal in you.”

How much that idea scared me only made it hotter. Imagining him piercing my nipples to “mark” me was making me wet, and without even realizing what I was doing, I ground my hips up against him. The stimulation was just enough to make me shudder before he shoved me back against the wall again.

“Was that yes, please do it?” he said. “Or am I just imagining how goddamn eager you are?”

Fuck, I wanted him — needed him, right here, right now. These weeks without him had felt like an eternity. But I couldn’t forget where we were, and I couldn’t forget what I’d come here for.

“If you help me find my way around the house, you can mark me,” I said softly. His eyes narrowed, his jaw hardening as he considered my offer. 

“Mm, that’s a very naughty offering, Rae.” He was so close I could barely breathe — it took all my self-control not to wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him again, taste him again. “I don’t want you in this house.”

“We’ll be quick,” I said.

“Why do you think there’s anything at all in this house that’s worth risking your life for?”

“You said Kent had magical artifacts. If he has a charm to protect him from you, maybe he has something to protect me from the God.” His eyes had narrowed. He didn’t like it, but I wasn’t wrong. “Help me find it. Because if I’m not going to enroll in your Demonic Protection Plan, I need something to defend myself.”

He didn’t look happy as he glared from behind his mask, but finally his expression softened. “So I help you find Kent’s stash and I get to pierce those cute little nipples, yeah? That’s the deal?”

I gulped, but I still had enough alcohol in my system to sound completely confident as I said, “Yeah. That’s the deal.”

“Alright then. Stay quiet, and stay close.”

We crept up the stairway, emerging onto the upper floor near some kind of secondary living room with a covered pool table and large, thickly cushioned white chairs. It was a good thing the party had managed to stay contained to the front of the house. There was no way we could have managed this if the guests had spread out. But the upper floor was dark, all the lights off and the doors closed.

A clear indication that no one was meant to be up here.

I was itching to open every door, but Leon knew where he was going. The hall ended at a cross, and Leon headed to the right, taking us along another glass-walled hall with a view out over the dark yard. The house was so big that the thump of the music seemed vastly distant now. I kept expecting to feel my phone buzz in my pocket; Inaya would start wondering where I was soon. Hopefully she was distracted enough — drunk enough — to forget about me for a little longer.

The hall ended at a set of gray double doors. Leon held a finger to his mouth in warning before he took a long and careful look at the doorknobs, then at the crack between the doors.

“What are you looking for?” I whispered, only to have him wave his hand at me yet again to be quiet. Slowly, he opened the door, cracking it just an inch before the tension went out of his shoulders and he pushed it open the rest of the way.

“Checking for any protective magic,” he said. “Would really be a stupid way to go if you escaped the God only to be killed instantly for touching a doorknob.”

The knowledge that there were spells that could kill with just a touch had me stepping much more cautiously through the doorway. The bedroom was spacious, with gleaming wood floors and a large white rug. Everything was in monochromatic tones, from the gray sheets to the white pillows, and the black curtains pulled back on the far glass wall. 

Leon quietly shut the door behind us, glaring around the room as if it personally offended him. “Never thought I’d find myself creeping back in here again. Hate this room.”

“Were you in here often?” 

“Once or twice, and that was too many. Kent had a thing for administering punishments while he was lounging around in here. I suppose it was a relaxing pastime for him to magically break a few of my bones when I fucked up his orders.”

It was grim to imagine such a luxurious space being used for something so sinister. It was even harder to imagine Leon under someone else’s command: he had so much power, so much overwhelming strength that the thought of him being ordered around by a mere human sounded ludicrous.

But even a powerful demon could be broken with pain.

Everything in here looked expensive: the modern glass and steel chandelier overhead, the black marble fireplace beneath the massive flatscreen, the huge painting in a gilded frame above the bed. It depicted a woman standing in the midst of a stormy sea, her arm outstretched with a dagger pointed toward the sky. Black tentacles were coiled around her arm, as if to grasp the knife with her. It looked like it could have been painted in the Renaissance, beautiful and dramatic. But it wasn’t a weapon.

Nothing in here looked like a weapon.

The open window showed only our reflections until I passed by it, and a floodlight flickered on below, illuminating a large section of the lawn. Motion caught my attention, and as I stared, I saw something dark and skeletal creep back among the trees.

They’d followed me here. Of course they had. I couldn’t shake these monsters no matter where I went.

Leon’s arms wrapped around me from behind, and his teeth nipped at my ear as he whispered, “Why are you afraid of them lurking around, when you know the most dangerous thing in this house is me?” He turned me in his arms, nudging up my chin with his fingers. “And I’m on your side, lucky for you.”

Goose bumps crept up my spine with my back turned to the window. I hated knowing they were out there. I hated this constant feeling of being hunted. “Are you?”

He frowned. “Excuse me?”

“Are you on my side? Really?”

His expression grew serious, almost angry. His playful smirk was gone. “What the hell gave you the idea that I wasn’t, Rae?”

I bit my lip, shaking my head. “You plan on leaving again, don’t you? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do if I don’t find something here to protect myself. Those things won’t leave me alone.” I tried to look back out the window, but Leon caught my face and wouldn’t let me look.

“I came back,” he said. “Doesn’t that count for something?”

“It’s temporary,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. But I was scared, and I’d been keeping all my fears and frustrations quiet because who the hell was I supposed to talk to about it?

Who would understand, besides him?

“I don’t do temporary.” His voice was a snarl as he tucked his hands behind his back. It felt like a warning now, when he did that. His hands were clasped away, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to touch me. It was an indicator of his self-control, an effort not to do too much before I was begging for it. “You have forgotten — you’re mine, Rae. Frankly I should punish you for daring to suggest otherwise.”

My mouth had gone dry, but my pussy hadn’t. It was heating quickly at his words, swelling in anticipation. I ran my tongue over my lips, realizing just how foolish I’d sounded. These weeks of loneliness and fear had gotten to me, and I’d missed his attention more than I could ever say. I’d missed his fire, his brutality, his absolutely immoveable certainty that I belonged to him.

I needed that assurance now, desperately.

“You won’t punish me here,” I said. “In Kent’s own bedroom, you wouldn’t dare –“

“You think I wouldn’t?” His voice had dropped dangerously low. He stalked around me as I stood there, heart pounding with the rush of pushing him. I wanted a reaction, and if challenging him would get it, then that’s what I’d do.

“What if you’d caught me in here a few months ago, Leon?” I said, resisting the urge to turn as he stalked behind me. He’d managed to wipe from my mind the fear of the monster lurking outside, turning all my attention to him and what he was doing.

What he planned on doing.

“What if,” he murmured, then chuckled. “What if, indeed? Are you trying to suggest, that if I’d caught you in here while I was still in Kent’s service, I would have caused you harm?” He brushed his fingers across the back of my neck, stroking through my hair, his claws sharp as they scratched lightly over my skin. “You underestimate me, Rae. Kent never even would have had to know I’d caught you here. But I still would have had to punish you, if only to teach you a lesson about sneaking into places you shouldn’t.”

I gulped. His hands slipped around my waist, claws digging through the fabric of my sweater to prick against my hips. His lips brushed against my neck, then caressed beneath my ear, and I closed my eyes as my breath shuddered.

“So nervous,” he said softly. “What do you need, doll?”

“A distraction,” I whispered. “I need to feel safe. I need…I need you.”

I felt his lips curl into a smile against my skin. “A distraction? Shall I distract you with the thought that even if Kent still commanded me, I wouldn’t hurt you?” He came around to stand in front of me again, his claws tracing along my jaw until they pressed into the tender skin right under my chin. “Even as I punish you, as cruelly and brutally as I please, I’m still going to protect you. Is that the distraction you need?”

“Yes. Please.”

“Please.” He chuckled. “It sounds so pretty when you say it. Are you going to submit willingly, or do I need to force you to accept what you want?”

I took a slow step back, then another. I was restless, my limbs trembling, tingling with adrenaline and the need to fight, to run.

“Ah, so by force it is.” He came after me, every step just as slow and measured as mine. My face was hot, and he inhaled deeply before his eyes flashed gold, and he gave me a wide, sharp grin. “I can smell that. Your dripping arousal, so fucking eager for me.”

I shook my head, but inside I was screaming yes. The fantasy of being taken by Leon — forcibly, as punishment — made my pussy throb. Very real terror lurked outside, but in here, I was safe in his hands. Safe, even as he played my fear like a violin.

Dangerous fantasies felt cathartic when there were so many real things to be afraid of.

“You shouldn’t have been wandering in forbidden places, doll. See what happens when you do?”

He lunged for me, and I catapulted across the bed to make a run for the door. I knew I wouldn’t reach it. I had no desire to get away. But my heart still leapt into my throat when he grabbed hold of me and yanked me back, throwing me down on the mattress. His strength was irresistible; he threw me around like a ragdoll, flipping me over so that I lay on my back with him straddling me.

It felt good to throw my fists at him, to kick and buck and wiggle. I knew it was all useless, that I wouldn’t get away. But struggling released my tension, it eased that jittery energy in me. When he snatched my wrists and pinned them to the bed with one big hand, and used his other hand to grip around my throat, arousal burned through me like wildfire.

I panted beneath him as he leaned close, laughing wickedly. “Tell me you remember, Rae. What makes the game stop?”

“Mercy,” I whispered.

“Good girl.” His grip tightened roughly, his claws digging into my neck. He looked terrifying and unknown with the mask on, and I could imagine he truly was a stranger, a demon I’d never met who’d caught me snooping where I shouldn’t be.

“Better keep quiet,” he growled. “You don’t want my employer to find out about this now, do you? It’ll only be worse for you if he does.” He chuckled as I turned my head away from him defiantly, and he ran his tongue up the side of my face. I shuddered at the sensation, and a whimper escaped me as he bit my ear. 

“Let me go,” I squeaked around the pressure of his hand, squirming uselessly. My thighs tightened with need as his forked tongue flicked at me from between his parted lips, taunting me. “Please, let me go.”

“Not a chance.” He dragged me back to the edge of the mattress. He stood behind the bed, yanked me over the edge, and held me down on my stomach so that I was bent over the side of the mattress. His hand slipped beneath my skirt, his nails ripping the thin fabric of my black stockings. “No matter how much you squeal and beg, you don’t fool me; you’re going to love every second of what I’m about to do to you. I’m going to fucking ruin you.”

“Fuck, Leon…” His hand rubbed between my legs, rough and careless. I found myself grinding myself down against him, eager for more stimulation, desperate for the feeling of his fingers over my clit. He pulled his hand away, pressed my face down against the mattress with a hand on the back of my head, and smacked my ass three times in quick succession. 

“Filthy little slut.” He reached between my legs again, ripping my stockings and tugging my panties to the side to plunge two fingers into me. I cried out as he mercilessly pumped his fingers, gripping at the sleek sheets beneath me, the pleasure taking brutal hold.

“Aw, so wet,” Leon withdrew his fingers, leaving me gasping, and held them up in front of my face. My arousal glistened on his skin, webbing between his fingers as he spread them. He laughed darkly, giving my head a rough shake. “Filthy girl. You love being thrown around, hm? Open your mouth.”

He pushed his fingers past my lips, the taste of my own arousal making me moan. I sucked on his fingers, my tongue slipping between them and over the tip — he’d mercifully sheathed his claws to finger-fuck me. He smacked my ass again, and I yelped, but went right back to licking up every last drop of myself from him.

“Such a naughty little thing,” he growled. “Let’s put that mouth of yours to better use, shall we?”

He manhandled me to the floor, controlling me with a hand on my neck and another on my arm. I struggled against him, just to experience that euphoric feeling of denying something I desperately wanted and knowing it would come anyway.

I wanted to fight, and get what I wanted anyway.

He forced me to my knees and unbuckled his belt. The clink of the buckle and the familiar sound of his zipper sliding down had my stomach twisting with need. My mouth was watering. I knew what was coming. I watched eagerly as he pulled out his rigid cock, thickly veined and monstrous, and held it in front of my face.

“Open.”

I glared up at him with a defiant smile. “No.”

His eyes flashed, and he rolled back his shoulders, shaking his head. He tugged me up higher on my knees, leaning down until our faces were inches apart. “Don’t. You. Dare. Say No. To Me. Or I’ll slap that cheeky smile off your face.”

I grinned wider. “Hurt me, Leon,” I whispered. “Hurt me.”

The veins in his arms seemed to thicken with the effort of holding back. “Brave girl,” he said softly. “Are you sure about that? You’re asking a demon to hurt you; I’m used to playing with those who can bleed and not die, who can be thrown and not break.”

“You won’t break me,” I said. “Fucking hurt me, asshole.”

His palm slapped across my face, heavy and stinging — but perfectly controlled. His strength was tempered. He gave just enough to make it sting, softened the impact with his other hand to prevent my head from whipping to the side. For a moment my mouth hung open in shock, my cheek stinging and my eyes beginning to water. He paused with me, waited with me, and I knew his eyes were on me, gauging my reaction.

I raised my gaze again, petulant, and spat, “You don’t scare me.”

“No?” He tugged my hair, and the viciousness of those sharp teeth through the dark mask made goose bumps go up my spine. “You want to be scared, little brat?” Something was changing. His teeth had grown longer. His irises had swollen, leaving only a thin ring of gold. His tongue, when it snaked out to flick teasingly at my face, was black. “I’ll give you something to be scared of.”

He slapped me again, then again. My head was buzzing with the concoction of dopamine and adrenaline that this stinging pain was pumping through me. His slaps were heavy, leaving biting tingles across my face. I didn’t just enjoy the pain — I reveled in the endurance, in resisting his orders for as long as I could bear it. When I raised my watering eyes up to him again, he truly did look like a monster, something out of my nightmares that had me helpless in his hands.

“Scared now, girl?”

Scared — enamored — overwhelmed — needy as hell. This wicked stretch of my imagination that allowed me to exist as both frightened and calm at the same time, this dangerous game, was exactly where I wanted to be.

I shook my head defiantly, flinching when his fingers stroked over the skin he’d just slapped. “I’m not. I’m not scared of you.”

“So brave,” he said, and pouted his lip out mockingly. “And so fucking foolish. Pathetic little mortal. Defying a demon feels good, doesn’t it?” He squeezed my cheeks between one hand, and pushed the fingers of his opposite hand to my lips, forcing my jaws open. “Let me see that pretty little mouth. So perfect for my cock.” His fingers pressed against my tongue. I almost gagged, and tears leaked from my eyes with the effort not to. I could feel my pussy dripping, clenching with desire.

He looked at me like I was nothing more than a toy, but when he lowered his voice and spoke again, there was reverence in his words. “Your mouth is perfect. Your body is perfect. Your mind, that damned curious mind, is perfect.” His hold on me wasn’t gentle, but the kiss he laid on my forehead was. “You’re mine, even if you don’t believe it. And I treasure what’s mine. Now, open your fucking mouth.”

This time, I obeyed.

He pressed his cock past my lips. The taste of his flesh on my tongue was intoxicating, and my eyes fluttered shut as he thrust into me. He fucked my mouth mercilessly, punishing me — rewarding me. Only when a gag finally jolted through me did he slow his pace, holding my head in place as he used my mouth for his pleasure.

“Fuck, you take my cock so well.” The roughness in his voice made me moan. I could hear the pleasure in his words, barely controlled, and I moved my tongue along his shaft, eager to feel him throb. “Ah…fuck, baby girl…”

The pet name stirred something in me, something light, fluttery, and warm in my belly. He’d never called me that before. His pet names had always carried a teasing tone, but this one — this one was tight with his pleasure, this one dropped from his lips as if he hadn’t even thought about it, as if it had come out in a moment of vulnerability.

It made the intense arousal flooding me blaze even hotter. I gripped his hips as I began to move my head in rhythm with his thrusts. I dug my fingers into him, then reached around and clawed at his back. I wanted to leave my marks on him. I wanted to draw blood. I didn’t know if I could possibly even make this monster feel pain, but I wanted to try.

His thrusts became harder, and he laid his palm against my stinging cheek, encouraging me to look up at him. “You’re going to swallow every drop, aren’t you?” he growled, and I managed to nod my head around his girth. I longed for the taste of him, I wanted it so badly that I groaned. He held my head in place, thrusting deep as his cock throbbed against my tongue, then flooded my mouth with his cum.

I gulped down every drop of him. I clung to him, holding him deep in my throat so I wouldn’t miss a drop. Every time my mouth tightened as I swallowed around him, his hips twitched forward, shudders going up his back.

He pulled away from my mouth, gripped my chin, and with my lips still wet with him, he kissed me with a hunger that wanted to crawl inside of me, that wanted to swallow me whole. I bit at his lip and he bit back, then his tongue was in my mouth and I found myself limp in his grip, all the tastes of him an intoxicating cocktail in my mouth.

“You’re fucking filthy,” he whispered, parting from me just enough to speak. I smiled — tear-stained face, cum down my chin, mascara running.

“Make me filthier.”

He spit on my lips, and as he watched me lick it off, I thought he might truly lose control. The viciousness in his eyes, the hunger there, was nothing short of terrifying. Terrifying, and yet I’d never wanted someone so badly. Every nerve in my body was on fire, sensitive to the touch. I held back a shriek as he lifted me from the floor and threw me back on the bed, where I landed on the sleek sheets and soft pillows. I scrambled, another useless attempt to struggle, but he pinned me down on my back and yanked down my skirt.

“You’re still hard?” I gasped, as if I couldn’t see what was obvious. It was as if he hadn’t even orgasmed: his cock was still rigidly hard, a pearly bead of precum sliding from the tip as he pushed my legs apart.

“Remember what I am, baby girl,” he growled. “I’m hard as long as I want to be.” He leaned closer, a whisper against my skin. “And I promised to ruin you.”

I was dripping wet, but the stretch of him entering me still made me cry out. He covered my mouth with his hand, stifling my noise as he filled me deeply. “Remember,” he hissed harshly, biting at my neck as he spoke. “Three taps if you want out.” The reminder of the signal grounded me for a moment, reminding me of reality, before I floated right back into that delicious, dark fantasy.

Watching him over me, his face masked, his eyes bright, bloodied marks from my teeth on his lips, brought me to the edge of orgasm almost immediately. The stretch of his cock inside me, and his fingers rubbing my clit shoved me off the precipice and sent me tumbling into ecstasy.

I clenched around him, screaming against his hand as he fucked me into oblivion. He slowed his pace, drawing out every second of pleasure. But then, even as the waves receded and I managed to catch my breath, my head light, he whispered, “You’re not done yet. I want to see you come again. Scream for me again.”

He lifted my legs, holding them up so he could reach an even deeper angle. My shuddering pussy clenched again, every touch on my overly-sensitive, swollen clit making me twitch. I was crying, “Please, please, please,” against his hand, my mind spiraling into thoughtless bliss. He bit against my neck, his lips curving into a smile on my skin as I arched up against him, hardly able to draw breath as my tension wound tighter and tighter.

I sounded like an animal as I cried out against his hand, shaking under him, the flood of endorphins making me sob. I barely realized I was crying until his hands were wiping away my tears, kissing my face, murmuring, “Easy, baby girl. You did so good, you’re so fucking beautiful.”

I turned my head, to press my face against his chest as he lay down beside me. I felt silly for crying: I wasn’t sad, I wasn’t scared, I wasn’t hurt. But it had been so good, so wildly consuming, that crying against his chest for another minute felt like catharsis.

“Sorry.” I giggled as I sniffled, just an absolute mess all around. “Sorry about the crying —”

He pressed a finger to my lips, shushing me. “Don’t you dare apologize. Come down however you need to. I’m here with you.”

We lay there in silence, listening to the distant thump of the music. As I calmed, I realized that the knot of anxiety that had been tormenting me for days was gone. He’d unraveled it, with his fingers, his tongue, his wicked words. Nothing that lurked outside was as dangerous as him.

And I was his. He treasured what was his.

“Enough of a distraction for you?” He smirked at me, and I pulled up the mask he wore because I wanted to see his face. It hadn’t been all that long since I’d last seen him, but it still took my breath away. His beauty was dangerous, it was alluring. Like those brightly-colored poisonous frogs, with looks that begged to be touched but would kill you with one brush of your fingertips. But I touched him anyway, caressing my fingers over his face.

“It was a good distraction,” I said.

“Hopefully I’ve fucked those anxious thoughts out of your head. Don’t waste that sweet fear on vile beasts, not when I’m here.”

But how long will you be here?

We couldn’t lay there forever. He told me not to be afraid, but I knew he was still on alert: he was still listening for footsteps, his eyes still darted toward the window, the door. He was anxious, so I didn’t have to be. But for another minute, it felt good just to lay there, just to breathe, just to feel his fingers play in my hair.

“I’m surprised a demon would use a safeword,” I murmured, staring at the chandelier overhead. The bed was absurdly comfortable, but the painting of the woman behind me was giving me the illusion of eyes looking down at me.

He sniffed, shaking his head. “We demons value free will above all else. We may play with the illusion of being forced, but what fun is it if your victim doesn’t desperately want you? We don’t call it that in Hell, a safeword. We all know to call mercy if the play needs to end. It’s a more polite, and rather more intimate, way of saying, Stop or I’ll make you stop.” He shrugged, then after a moment, shoved himself up off the bed with a grin.

“I’ve always wanted to desecrate this bed,” he said, holding his hand out to me to help me up. “Finally got to make it properly filthy.”

“Kent may have to burn it,” I said, as he wrapped me up in his arms and held me close again. His lips pressed against the top of my head, and I whispered. “I missed you.”

I meant it, but it set my heart pounding to say it out loud. He tensed, his grip on me tightening slightly. “Why?”

Because you make me feel safe, warm, wanted, and you have a monster dick that gives me the best orgasms of my life.

I wasn’t quite able to meet his gaze. “I like having you around.”

When I did finally look up, his brows had drawn together as if my words were confusing. He let me go to rub the back of his head, ruffling his hair. “Well, you’re certainly one of the first humans to say that.” He awkwardly cleared his throat. “We’ve spent enough time here. Let’s get down below.”