11. Relief
CHAPTER 11
RELIEF
GLAINE
I want to believe I am an honorable male.
An honorable male would have warned his mate that, unless the bond is finalized and the mate promise given shortly after an essence exchange, we shall feel unfulfilled. It’s the gods’ way of reminding a Sombra demon that a mate is a precious gift, and it must not be wasted. To spark a bond but not finish it… it is though we are throwing that gift in the face of the gods, mocking them. A demon must be fully bonded to his mate after the exchange or he must release his female, otherwise we will suffer until we do.
It’s the mate sickness, and it’s not very common among demons and demonesses. When a demon finds his mate in a demoness, she has been raised to understand that her essence must be guarded until she is ready to finalize a bond. The same with the demon. But humans… I want to believe I am an honorable male, but while I had Billie’s essence first, she did not know exactly what she was agreeing to when she took mine.
Oh, I was careful. I let her know that, once the exchange was done, she wouldn’t be able to continue denying that I am her mate. My stubborn female understood, but I knew she didn’t quite believe me. She doubted that any consequences she might face would be worth it for her to have an equal footing in my world.
If I could keep her from suffering from mate sickness, I would. And maybe I am honorable, because I mean that. The seconds when I thought Billie was in danger of the rogue demon… I hated myself for leaving her vulnerable. She didn’t know what he said to her in Sombran, or how he promised to take her as his own mate, taking his own pleasure as often and as roughly as he wanted before he tossed the broken mortal to the shadows.
He deserved the fate he met with my sword. To even threaten Billie… to think that she was as much a dumb beast as those that lurk in the shadows because she is human… to say he would take her pleasure and not worship her the way I will?
He deserved his fate, just as Billie deserved to be the one to give it to him.
But I have been arrogant. I’ve decided to take my mate instead of waiting for her to find me. Her presence in Sombra is an insult to Duke Haures and our gods… and they’ve both punished me for it..
Worse, they’ve punished my mate.
Mere hours after I gave her my essence, she starts to slow. It is hot in Sombra for my mortal, but her curls have drooped, drenched in sweat. The air smells of salt, and also her own delectable musk as she becomes more and more aroused… and I have to breathe softly so that I don’t show her how the mate sickness is also affecting me.
Finally, just when I was prepared to suggest we find a closed ring of shadows where we can sit for a moment and rest, she stops.
Because she does, I do.
Billie exhales. “I’m sorry. I know I’m dragging, and I don’t want you to have to carry me while I can walk… but, crap. I’m not feeling the best right now.”
From what I’ve learned about Billie, through her essence and from being so close to her these last few days, it is a miracle that she admitted as much to me. But I’ve been watching her closely since I gave her my essence, and though I hoped the chains would dull the mate sickness, or there would be more time before it struck… I know that I must tell her the truth.
“It is the mate sickness,” I admit.
“I knew this wasn’t normal.” She narrows her eyes at me. “What did you do to me?”
“It wasn’t me. It’s the gods?—”
Billie pushes her damp curls out of her face so that she can glare even harder. “The gods want me to get laid?” At my blank look, she elaborates. “Sex. They want us to fuck. Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”
Fuck?
Mate .
Ah. So she does understand. “Yes. They’ve matched us together as mates. They’ve given us a bond to grow and nurture. But we’ve neglected it. Now that the essence exchange is complete, they’re reminding us how we will fulfill the bond.”
“So what? You gave me your essence to make me horny as hell?”
I glance at the top of her curls. “You don’t have any horns,” I say gently. “I don’t mind. You are attractive to me without them. But though I can make you immortal with our bond, I cannot give you horns.”
Billie stamps her foot in frustration, then hisses in a breath when her breasts jiggle. She cups them, then scowls when she sees that my attention has dropped there. “I know I don’t have horns, Glaine. That’s not what I meant. You did something to me and now I feel like, if I don’t have sex, I’m gonna hurl. That is not okay.”
I… I know. “We don’t have to mate. That will ease the mate sickness, but it’s not the only way to calm it.”
Her expression turns to one of surprise. “Wow. I would’ve thought you’d go straight to your dick being magic enough that it’s the only cure. Okay. I’ll bite. What else can I do to get rid of this?”
“A touch should help.”
Billie shoves her free hand toward me.
I clear my throat. “An intimate touch is best.”
Her delicate little face hardens. “I knew it. Let me guess. You shoving your dick in me is the intimate touch you have in mind? Or will you take your time with me fist, using a finger or two to stretch me out?”
I hate hearing the venom in her face, especially since I’ve caused it. “I know you are small. We will fit. I know of other demons with human mates who have no problem pleasuring each other. But I will not claim you until you ask me to?—”
She huffs. “How nice of you.”
I continue imploringly, hoping to convince my mate that she can trust me as I trust her. “We don’t need to mate. Any intimate touch will do… but, if you’ll allow it, I can use my mouth.”
Billie’s ridge-free forehead wrinkles. “Your mouth?” she says suspiciously. “Where?”
“On your cunt. I know, that must seem strange to a mortal, but I assure you… it is done in Sombra. A male is born to pleasure his female with his mouth.”
“Oh. I know . That’s not why I’m shocked, Glaine. I just… wow. I was with Trevor for a year and he never offered to go down on me.”
“Let’s not talk of Trevor,” I rumble. “You are my mate. If you allow it, I will show you exactly why a Sombra demon is better for you than some worthless mortal who was foolish enough to lose you.”
I’m bluffing. I have never pleasured a female with my mouth before, and if she searches my essence, she will see that. Still, it’s instinctive. Once a male gets his female’s taste… he knows what to do.
“Okay, fine. It’s not worth talking about that tool anyway. But you… did you mean it? You like to eat pussy?”
An image of a creature not unlike an ungez flashes through my mind, quickly replaced by that of the juncture between Billie’s legs. Her slinky coverings have shifted once or twice, giving me a peek that I quickly looked away from, but I imagine it is not so very different than the drawings passed around the barracks to young demon males.
“Are you asking me if I would like to taste your cunt?” I dart out my tongue, licking my bottom lip. “I will be honest with you, my Billie. Because it is your cunt, I will say that I love it. But… I have never done it before. I’ve never mated before.”
I couldn’t because I hadn’t yet found my one true mate.
Her eyes widen. “Wow. Okay. Wasn’t expecting that. But, hey, don’t worry.” Reaching down, shimmying her dress up so that I can see her cunt for the first time as the perfume from her arousal fills my nostrils, she smiles encouragingly at me. “I’ll show you what I like.”
I go still. “Is that a yes?”
“If it’s going to get rid of this sickness, Glaine, it’s a hell yes.”
That is all I need to hear.
I won’t lay Billie down on the ash. Without access to my shadows, I can’t conceal her in them or wrap her up in them. There is no one near so I’m not worried about others watching as I pleasure her. However, she doesn’t like being covered in the ash anymore than she has to, so I decide instead of grab her by her waist and lift her high.
With one command—“Take hold of my horns”—I settle her so that her legs are over my shoulder, and her cunt is right in front of my nose.
She has hair there. Curls the same shade as those on her head, though they’re not as soft I notice when I bury my nose past them, searching for the source of her musk, and groaning when I find that she is cool and slick and waiting for me.
Females produce a cream to let their males now that they are ready to be taken. I cannot mate Billie now, but I use my tongue to gather up as much as I can.
I growl against her skin. She is delicious .
Tugging my horns, Billie lets out a sound that is half-squeal, half-laugh. It is a mortal sound of delight, and when I dip the point of my tongue into the true source of her musk… when I find the entrance to her cock and attempt to mimic what I would do with my cock if she gave me the opportunity… she squeezes her legs around my head while panting, “Yes. Don’t stop, don’t stop .”
As you wish, Billie.
I would lick her, taste her, suck her for all eternity if I could. But, sooner than I hope, she writhes against me, squeezing my horns as her pants become soft little mews before she shudders and finally relaxes against me.
A few moments later, Billie taps me on the horn. “Okay,” she says, her voice breathless. “I’m good. You can put me down now.”
I don’t want to. She has found her release and, in it, also relief from mate sickness. If I could spend the rest of my days with my face between my mate’s thighs, I would. I hunger for her taste… but, more than that, I want to show her that I can be an honorable male.
So instead of licking her cunt again, I nuzzle her curls, then set her back on her feet.
Billie wobbles. I catch her, and preen when she doesn’t shove me away.
“Are you okay, my mate?”
She nods absently, and I’m even prouder that I licked much of her sharp tongue out of her. If that’s all it takes to tame my feisty mortal… I look forward to giving her as much pleasure with my mouth as she will allow.
But then, lifting her hand, gesturing at something behind me, I discover that it is not because of me and my prowess that she is so distracted.
“Hey, Glaine. I thought we had another day to go to get to Nuit.”
“Yes.”
“And we’re not near any other villages, right?”
I purposely led Billie away from other demons in case they warned Duke Haures we had been past. “We are not.”
“That’s what I thought. So, uh, what’s that?”
I follow her point, and my heart sinks.
In all my existence, I’ve only ever come across that den before. It was during a routine patrol through the shadows, and a young, inexperienced Glaine knocked to make sure it’s inhabitants were in no need of one of Duke Haures’s guards.
It was the first time I came face to face with a pair of demon twins—and the last.
Until now.