Chapter 38
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
LUCIFER
Coming to in the middle of the kitchen with my trousers wet and cold from the nocturnal emission Merri pulled from me was disorienting to say the least.
Her little stunt had fury brewing within me. There was no way I could let her get away with such a betrayal. I’d thought I had her right where I wanted her. I thought everything was finally coming together. She’d bamboozled me. No one bamboozled me.
A reckoning was at hand.
Getting to my feet, I took a wobbly step, then another before I had to reach out and steady myself on the kitchen island. Pain lanced my palm as the sharp edge of a chef's knife I’d carelessly left out sliced into tender flesh.
“Fucking hell, what did you do to me, crabapple?”
I hadn’t felt this weak since I was unceremoniously shoved out of heaven.
A glint of red had me doing a double-take. Blood?! I was bleeding?
What fresh hell was this?
“If you prick me, do I not bleed?” I intoned, more from shock than anything. Just as quickly, I snarled, my head snapping up and eyes narrowing with a single-minded focus. “No one makes me bleed my own blood.”
Taking a steadying breath, I balled my hand into a fist and stumbled out of the kitchen, lumbering down the hall toward my target. “Merri!” I bellowed. “I know you’re in there, you naughty, naughty girl.”
The door to her room was already ajar, stealing some of my steam. So much for my dramatic entrance.
I pushed it open with as much flair as I could muster, but instead of finding Merri poised and ready for a fight, she was out cold on her bed.
“Well, now I can’t be angry at you. Look at you.
So innocent when you’re unconscious.” I stepped into the room, interest piqued.
Perhaps this was my moment. She’d taken from me.
I could take from her . . . if I wanted to.
A kiss wouldn’t be so terrible. We’ve done it before.
And everyone knew you woke Sleeping Beauty with a kiss.
Moving to her side, I propped a knee on her mattress, one hand on either side of her face.
She really was ridiculously beautiful. Equal parts innocent and seductive all at once.
“Come on, crabapple. I need you to wake up so I can scold you properly.”
Was I whispering tenderly at the woman who’d just tried to kill me?
Hmph.
My brain must be more dysfunctional than I’d realized. Somewhere along the way, I’d equated attempted murder with grand gestures. I suppose the key word was attempted. She hadn’t actually gone through with it, and part of me knew, as ensnared as I’d been, she certainly could have.
As furious as I was, there was also a grudging amount of respect. No one had pulled one over on me like that before. Not even Lilith.
Leaning down, I brushed my lips over hers, a twist in my heart betraying how much I enjoyed showing her affection.
She sighed, and her eyes fluttered open, finding mine instantly.
“There you are. Now, it’s time we had a chat about your choices.”
There was a delicate flare of her nostrils followed by a sharp inhale. Before I could so much as draw breath, Merri’s eyes transformed from a lovely shade of blue to pure, endless demonic black.
Startled, I sat back, but she followed me, snapping upright.
“Mate,” she hissed, licking her lips.
For one second, all I could do was stare at her. Then a wicked smile stretched across my face.
“Well, isn’t this a delicious turn of events?”
She didn’t answer me with words. Instead my future demon queen launched herself at me, tearing at my clothes in a frantic attempt to get to me.
“Darling, calm down. You can have me whenever you desire, but I was rather fond of that shirt.”
She continued to pluck and pull at my shirt until I was forced to take her wrists in my hands and bodily push her down, holding them high above her head.
“Someone is in a hurry all of a sudden.”
Her hips rolled upward, searching for me as a whine escaped her lips. “Mine.”
She was in quite a state. In fact, it was one I knew of but had never experienced. Demons like her needed to sate the craving for their mates. Their nature insisted on it. And I was her mate. She’d said it on pure instinct.
Oh, this was going so much better than I had anticipated. She finally understood what I’d been saying all this time. That meant I could get everything I wanted and more. I’d make my antichrist and have my queen at my side.
And here I’d thought I’d jinxed myself. I should have known better than to doubt.
Holding her wrists with one hand, I brought my other down to caress her cheek.
“Do you want me, Merri?”
“Yesss,” she practically growled, writhing against me.
I leaned forward to run my nose along the length of hers. “Do you need me?”
She rocked her hips up, trying to dislodge me, but I kept her locked in place.
“Answer me, darling.”
Her hand slipped between us, and she grabbed my swollen cock through my damp trousers, squeezing possessively. “Yes.”
“Then take me.”
Eyes black as pitch still somehow flashed with excitement as I allowed her to roll us so she sat astride me.
She was already bare beneath her microscopic nightie. Her heat practically seared me.
Fuck, this was already so much better than I’d hoped.
In one swift move, she tore the scrap of lace and silk up over her head, flinging it behind her. Before I could make a move to free myself, her nails turned into black-tipped claws, and she shredded the fabric into ribbons.
I jerked away from her hands. “Careful with those, sweetheart. You’ve left me fragile.”
Holding up my still-bleeding palm, I grinned as she turned her focus to the line of crimson. She reached for me, grabbing me by the wrist and guiding my hand to her chest. If I weren’t hard as stone already, I would have been as my blood stained her skin in a long line from sternum to cunt.
“You look perfect bathed in my blood.”
She bared her teeth, petite demon fangs visible now. Oh, how I wanted her to mark my skin as I took her. I’d had countless lovers in my long life, but none that I’d let claim me in such a way. I wanted her to be the first.
The only.
Wrapping my hand in her long locks, I tugged her head down, pressing her lips against the skin I wanted her to mark. It wouldn’t scar—actually, maybe it would. My angelic powers were still diminished, so this was uncharted territory for me.
My cock jerked at the idea of a permanent reminder of Merri.
“Claim me, my pretty succubus. Bite down while I fuck you full of me.”
Letting out a little growl, she did as I asked. The sting of pain was blissfully acute, and I sheathed myself inside her in one perfect upward thrust.
Taking her hips in my hands, I moved her along my shaft, setting the pace I desired.
But my greedy succubus did not like the slow, deep thrusts and kept trying to take control.
She rolled her pelvis aggressively, attempting to place her feet on either side of my hips for leverage so she could move faster, but I was having none of it.
I was in control, even if she thought she was topping me.
Sitting up, I got to my feet, holding on to her as I spun her around and slammed her against the mattress.
“Behave, precious one. We only get one first time. I want to make it count.”
She whimpered, but didn’t fight me as much as I anticipated.
My arms braced on either side of her face, I moved in deep, purposeful thrusts.
The way my hair fell forward offered us a sort of cocoon, adding to the intimacy between us in a way I’d not expected.
She was mine. Only I understood her the way she deserved. Now she realized it as well.
Pain bloomed across my back where my wings would be if I released them. I didn’t let them out often unless I was performing for the sake of showing my power to my enemies. And even then, they only saw what I wanted. The truth of my wings was a secret known only to me.
“More,” Merri urged, her eyes locked onto mine.
I held her gaze, giving her everything as I drove into her.
I’d thought my climax in the dream had been the best I’d ever had, but it paled in comparison to the one building now. While I was inside her. Fuck. Leaving a piece of me behind had always been appealing, a goal to meet, but Merri being bonded to me in every way possible did something primal to me.
A golden glow emanated from between us, threads of magic starting and ending at our chests. Warmth suffused my veins, and Merri let out a shocked gasp, her eyes turning back to their beautiful blue for just a second before going demonic once more.
I was so bloody close. But there was no way I would let this moment pass without Merri coming all over my cock. I had to feel that telltale clenching, see her body tense, maybe hear her cry my name in ecstasy if I was lucky.
Holding myself up with one arm, I reached between us with the other, easily finding her swollen little nub.
Her breath hitched, and she pressed into my fingers, urging me to work her harder. Faster.
The build was exquisite. But the next time I fell, I wanted her to fall with me.
“Be a good girl and come for me, Merri.”
She whimpered, then began trembling, and it was riiiiight there.
Her orgasm washed over us both, taking me and throwing me off the cliff right alongside her.
Just like before, in her dreamwalk, the waves of pleasure crashed into me without end.
Even though she couldn’t possibly be hungry, she still fed off my desire.
Each pull from her had my eyes fluttering as I drifted along.
Weakened as I was, I couldn’t resist the pull, the additional drain on me forcing me to slip into unconsciousness.
I should have been worried after what happened in the dream.
But I knew something this time.
I’d found my mate, and she would be here when I woke up.