Chapter 8
You got this, Lils, I told myself.
I so didn’t “got this.”
I gaped at the most beautiful cock I’d ever seen with a looped piercing through the end.
There you go, gawking again.
It wasn’t like I’d never seen a piercing before, but I wasn’t expecting such complete perfection.
Azrael had piercings down there—a lot of them. As for Samael, he had a Prince Albert, where the loop went through the tip and downward. This sort of looked like that, but right side up instead. And it was more like the icing on the cake.
A very hard, goddess-crafted cake I wanted to lick all over.
Asher was definitely part incubus. His body had lines in all the right places and muscles I hadn’t even known existed. He was ripped, but not over-the-top decked out like Orion or even Dante. There was a lithe grace to him, making him look like a masterpiece I could admire for hours.
“Never seen a reverse Prince Albert, love?” Asher asked with a smug grin on his face. He probably thought that was what had me so stunned. It was more… how beautiful he was.
Dante looked like he wanted to punch him.
“No,” I admitted, not sure what else I was supposed to say.
Or do.
Try breathing, my inner voice supplied, and I managed to suck in a shaky breath.
“Tell me a story about us, Asher,” I said, trying to distract myself. Seeing him like this felt like a little too much, too fast.
Normally, I’d be all in. At this point, it was clear that Asher was a Virtue and there was already a connection between us. Dante was on board, sort of, and I’d learned the hard way that fighting fate—or forcing it—didn’t often work out for me.
The desire to sink into the incubus and learn his body all over again made my muscles ache, but I locked them and refused to move.
I wasn’t so sure I could go through with the task of hurting him.
I also knew I couldn’t risk death-by-incubus-sex, either.
Which left me stranded on an island of my own making as I blinked down at the most beautiful male I’d ever seen.
“A dirty story, or a sweet one?” Asher asked as he fell back on the bed and looped his hands behind his head. The crystal rolled against one of the pillows and the whispers started up again. I did my best to ignore its complaints.
“Dirty one,” Dante responded, not giving me a chance to reply as he began removing my boots. He took one off and neatly set it against the wall.
“One of my favorites was when we were on a trip. You loved nature, so we’d go to the ends of the earth to untouched areas where humans hadn’t walked for many years.
There are still a few remote pockets like that, if you know where to find them.
Anyway, we found this little stretch of land between hazardous mountains.
No one seemed to know about it.” He chuckled as an old glint entered his eye.
“You decided to run naked in the woods and see if I could find you.” He grinned.
“You were kind of a free spirit. You were lucky no one else was within ten miles of us, or they might have been in danger.”
“Why?” I asked as Dante removed my other boot.
I kept my gaze strictly on Asher’s face, even though I was very tempted to drink in the sight of him again.
He was supposed to be feeding on Dante’s lust, not mine.
And there was an uneasy queasiness building up in my stomach, warning me not to give the incubus too much.
Asher stared as Dante stood up and popped the button on my pants, quietly undressing me even though he knew the incubus was watching. Or perhaps it was because he knew the incubus was paying attention, so he was smug about it. But he fumbled at Asher’s next sentence.
“If I found you, I got to fuck you however I wanted,” he said, his eyes flicking up, flaring with heat when Dante yanked the leather down my legs.
My Hunter moved behind me, looped his arm around my waist, and sat me in his lap. He’d taken one of the chairs so we could face the incubus while he talked.
He’d completely removed his pants, leaving his hard erection pressing against me as I wiggled with only my underwear to separate us. I also still wore my silky halter top. My nipples beaded under the material and Asher’s gaze dipped, seeming to appreciate the view.
Then Dante slowly raked his fingers over my thighs, spreading me.
The crystal hissed, the whispers shrieking in my mind as I realized it was feeding again.
But on what? Who was in pain?
A vein in Asher’s neck throbbed as his jaw flexed. “I’m a jealous mate, love. Back then? It was just you and me. If anyone would have seen you, I would have ripped out their eyes.”
Dante slipped his fingers underneath my underwear, making me sink my teeth into my lower lip. The crystal fizzed as if stoked in a fire.
I don’t like this, I decided.
I tried to close my legs, but Dante punished me by spearing his fingers inside me, making me gasp.
Asher didn’t come to my rescue. He kept his fingers locked behind his head as he watched.
Did he feel like he deserved this punishment? For what? What could he possibly have done?
“I don’t want to hurt him like this,” I told Dante as I gripped his wrist—hard—making him stop.
My Hunter immediately retreated, leaving my legs quivering. My body wanted more, but my soul felt pulled in two different directions, leaving it confused.
“Let him continue,” Asher interjected. He glowered when Dante didn’t obey him.
But Dante listened to me. Asher had some work to do in order to be accepted into the fold. Even if my soul knew him, he was a stranger.
“Why?” I asked. “This is hurting you.”
“That’s the point,” Dante said from behind me. “And it’s working. The crystal is darker than it was before.”
I glanced at it, seeing that he was right. But the whispers still hissed and buzzed in my head, wanting more.
If we had to do this every day, I was going to be too worn out from the emotional turmoil of it all.
“But why?” I insisted, looking back at Asher and his perfect, godlike body. “Why would destiny give me nine mates when my first one was taught not to share?”
Asher chuckled, probably at my choice of words. “Destiny is a fickle beast.” His gaze darkened, the gold seeping out of his eyes as they returned to a slate-gray color. I realized that was a sign of when his incubus was coming out.
All of us hummed like a live wire, needing an outlet before we imploded. It was probably like catnip to him.
He cursed, then jumped off the bed and grabbed Dante’s dagger from the wall. The Hunter tensed behind me but didn’t stop him.
Asher stuffed the hilt into my hand, then forced me to draw a bloodied line down his chest, ruining his perfection.
Dante’s heat burned into my spine, the sensation leaving me dizzy when I was used to having wings to block anything from behind me. Instead, I was left completely flattened against my Hunter’s chest as I leaned into him.
Asher’s eyes fluttered as he drank in Dante’s arousal. I hated that this was what did it for Dante right now, but I also understood.
He was a tormented soul, and that was something we had connected on. He was a monster, and so was I.
He just dealt with his demons a little differently than I did.
“I can’t feed on you, love. It’s too dangerous,” Asher explained as he gripped my fist, forcing me to keep the blade digging into his flesh. “Only the Hunter is fair game, and this is what he likes.”
Anger surged in my chest. “Fuck fair.” I pushed him back, throwing him off-balance.
Dante followed me as I stood, staying close behind me like a lethal shadow as I moved.
“Did destiny play fair when it took me from you?” I asked, walking between his legs as he fell back onto the bed.
I crawled up him, straddling him while Dante planted his arms on either side of the bed, making us dip.
I thought he might yank me off the male, but he didn’t.
I was still in control.
“No,” Asher admitted when I accidentally grazed his erection. It sent a shock between my legs. With only my underwear on, I could feel the stimulating bulb placed strategically on the rounded piercing. So is that the purpose of its orientation? I wondered.
“How did I die?” I asked Asher as I eased lower, this time purposefully moving myself over his piercing again.
He hissed out a breath as a wave of dizziness washed over me.
He was feeding on my lust. He couldn’t help it.
But I trusted him not to go too far. He could control it. I knew he could.
“Don’t make me talk about this,” he said, fluttering his eyes closed as Dante held his wrists down, encouraging me with pressure from behind. His erection rubbed over my ass, only stoking my desire more.
Because this felt better. This felt right.
If only Asher could stop holding back.
Reaching up, I plucked at the strings holding my halter in place, letting it fall. Asher’s eyes fluttered open and he soaked in the sight of my breasts in front of his face. Dante had him pinned, so he couldn’t touch. Only look.
But I was weakening his resolve. He lifted his hips to match my movements, sending pressure radiating through my core and butterflies bursting to life in my stomach.
The crystal whispered encouragements in my head. This hurt him as much as it aroused him, but it was the kind of hurt he needed.
He’d held on to this sorrow for too long. It was time he let it out.
“Talk,” Dante demanded. Maybe he knew what I was up to, or maybe he just saw that I was hurting Asher more than making him jealous or cutting him with a blade ever could.
Asher hesitated, because what I was asking was for him to open up a box that he’d locked tight.
“Talk to me,” I echoed, continuing my soft, encouraging movements with my hips. Sweat broke out down my spine as desire curled in my core. I knew when Asher drank it up, because an instant later my stomach dropped and my insides felt cold.
Dante replaced any heat I lost. He released one of Asher’s wrists, then wrapped his fingers around my throat and licked my ear. Asher watched him as if transfixed.