30. A Cross to Bear
Deyva
A zariah carried me high over the gate, over the dark homes where Bethel’s citizens still slept, none the wiser to the army he destroyed mere hours away. The angel swooped down low in front of the church, its stained-glass windows glowing with the light of dawn approaching.
In front of the heavy doors stood a solemn man, dressed for battle in his tactical gear and crossbow. Kais’ expression was unreadable, neutral and blank as Az swept lower and dropped me lightly on my bruised feet.
“You two kids have fun.” He barely touched the ground before he was off again, golden wings propelling him into the air. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Fuck. I looked at Kais, withering under his hard stare. He didn’t look hurt, betrayed, or even surprised. Like he all but expected me to take off running. His emotions clamped down, I couldn’t get a sense of what was brewing underneath.
“Kais, I—”
“Get inside.” He turned to the side with a stiff pivot of his feet, like a soldier.
My breath already shaking from fear and anticipation in equal measure, I ascended the stone steps and slipped through the ajar door of the chapel.
“Walk.”
He barked out the command with the same harshness as a flogger on my back. I took small steps down the aisle, feeling like some kind of dejected bride in my tattered dress as I approached the altar. Behind me, hinges groaned and metal clanked as Kais closed the church doors and locked them shut.
I stopped at the edge of the pulpit, eyes darting over the candles, rosaries, flowers, and statuettes of the saints looking down at me from the altar. Judging me. Kais' heavy booted footsteps followed between the pews after me.
“So you left us.”
He said it flatly. No emotion, just an observation as he strode up to the pulpit and jumped up, looking around at the church relics, but not at me.
I swallowed. “I’m sorry, Kais—”
“Did you hate being here so much?” He picked up a silver chalice, turning it over in his hands for a moment before setting it down.
“No!” The protest came out desperate, weak. “I wanted to protect Bethel! I love being here, Kais. I loved it too much. Az and I are drawing Kimaris and Belial here, putting you all in danger. I thought I could bargain for your safety.”
“Hm.” He said nothing else as he picked up a rosary next. Wrapping both fists around the ends, he pulled it taut. The wooden beads snapped together with a soft clack, then he set it down. When he finally looked at me, his gaze was penetrating. “Take that fucking dress off.”
For once, I wanted to talk this out with Kais, but I shoved the tattered material off my shoulders, shoving it down over my hips then let it shimmy down my legs to pool at my feet.
“We’re going to burn that thing.” He seemed utterly unimpressed with my naked body as he picked up a cross next, a large golden one inlaid with stones and jewels that reflected light at different angles. He slapped it into his palm a few times, testing its weight.
“Yes, Kais,” I said demurely, noting how satisfied he seemed with the crucifix over the other objects.
“Yes, Father,” he corrected me harshly, jumping down from the stage.
“Yes, Father,” I repeated. My thighs snapped together, the desire to feed both an ache and a burn. I was still aching from Gamaeron’s hoof and claw, and I’d started my journey hungry to begin with.
“You so badly wanted to prove to us that you weren’t a hellion.
” His voice dripped with disapproval. “You wanted us to trust you, to not judge you for the place you spent centuries in. And the moment we do,” he sat down in the front pew, dark eyes glued to the crucifix in his hands, “you take off back to that place you sought sanctuary from.”
“I’m so sorry, Kai—Father.” My own emotions spilled over, tears blurring my vision and my heart aching from what I’d done to them.
These men I loved. “I thought I was protecting you by leaving, but Azariah was right. Hell will come here whether I return or not. If you’re going to fight, I’d rather be with all of you, giving humanity its best possible chance. ”
Kais watched impassively as I spoke, spreading his knee and extending his hands along the back of the pew.
“Show me how sorry you are.”
My legs crumpled underneath me like I was a puppet and he controlled my strings.
I crawled the short distance to him and he seemed to appreciate the view, an approving grunt escaping him as I wedged myself between his thighs.
Freeing his cock with shaking, eager hands, I drew his thick length into my mouth.
He was already semi-hard, pulsing and hot as I dragged my lips over him.
I glanced up and his eyes were on the blood on my shoulder, but he didn’t look concerned. He knew what I could withstand.
I pulled out all the stops, giving him my absolute best while he sat back.
He didn’t touch me and barely made a sound while I sucked him deep, hands and mouth working in equal measure as he stiffened and grew.
I was unsure about meeting his eyes, the woman in me desperate to please him, to hear praise, affection, and forgiveness.
But none came. Even now, his emotions were still clamped down.
Only small touches of anger flavored his arousal.
“Did I tell you to fucking stop?” he hissed when I paused.
His hips drove up before I could react, while his hand wrapped around my horn and shoved me down at the same time.
My moans gurgled around his cock as he fucked my throat wildly, just as roughly as he fucked me in the gym.
I relaxed my throat and leaned into his rough handling, my horn pulsing under the pressure of his hand like it was my clit.
My nose tapped the base of his pelvis as I deep-throated him, taking his rough punishment like I deserved.
Just as my breaths began shortening, he pulled me off, arching me back with his firm grip on my horn. My saliva coated him and made a mess of my lips as we disconnected.
“Stand up,” he ordered, voice rough and breath coming out in soft pants. “Spread your legs,” he added when I obeyed.
He picked up the cross at his side, eyes glued to my face as he held the long end out toward me, moving it toward my pussy.
I whimpered when it made contact—the hard, textured object unlike anything I’d ever felt before.
Kais' eyes dropped to watch as he rubbed it between my legs, gliding the gilded cross between my folds and my wetness.
“Look at that.” He sounded pleased as he pulled it away, angling the end up to show me. “You’re fucking soaked, succubus.”
“Yes, Father,” I whispered, biting my cheek against the plea for him to call me by my name, by Daisy, anything else. I’d rather hear that stupid nickname over the simmering anger in his voice.
He stood abruptly, glistening cock bobbing between his thighs, and I lowered my gaze to wait for his next command.
“Bend over the pew. Hands out in front of you.” He moved behind me and I heard the rustling of clothes coming off as I hurried to obey.
Dropping to my knees again, I leaned my torso over the bench seat and pressed my forearms against the back.
“Good.”
It was the only word of praise I’d gotten from him yet and I soaked it in for all I was worth. My back arched and my hips lifted in anticipation.
Something touched me, but it wasn’t the warm, rounded head of a cock. It was cold, metallic, and studded with jewels.
“Kais!” I gasped when the first inch of the cross penetrated me.
He withdrew it and then the hard, unyielding smack of the object came down against my ass.
“What did I tell you to call me?”
“Father,” I whimpered, my pussy clenching around nothing with a painfully empty feeling. “I’m sorry. Please, Father.”
“Please, what?”
“Please…fuck me, Father.”
“Hm.” He smoothed the crucifix over the flesh of my ass, taunting me with it. “You want me to fuck you with this or my cock?”
The cross tapped lightly on my right cheek as he waited for my answer. A test, one he was warning I’d be punished for if I gave the wrong answer. My mouth was dry, all the moisture concentrated between my legs. I was so hungry, both for sustenance and for him to split me apart with his rough touch.
The tapping became more insistent, ramping up to a spanking level the more I kept him waiting.
“I want whatever you’d like to do to me, Father,” I said, casting a glance over my shoulder. “Punish me however you want to for leaving.”
Kais was kneeling and naked behind me, a feast of tan skin and sculpted muscles.
I longed to turn around and inhale him, to run my tongue all over his body and soothe his anger into bliss.
But that would be just putting a band-aid on what plagued him.
He needed an outlet, and even though it hurt, I was more than willing to be the target of his anger.
Especially if it meant I could keep him.
“Face forward,” he barked.
I dropped my forehead to the bench seat between my arms, tilted my hips up as high as they could go, and waited.
The end of the cross dragged over my flesh, inching toward my pussy again.
He was right about how soaked I was, using the cross to spread my juices as he dragged it lazily around, not penetrating me.
I bit back my whimper as he used it to give a few taps and rubs to my clit.
It was nowhere near enough to make me come, but my pleasure’s short fuse had been lit since he ordered me to take the dress off.
Ever since Zach got me off in the confessional, coming on my own felt so much easier, like a mental wall had crumbled away. Who knew if Kais knew this, but he was dragging this out like he took great pleasure in denying me.
I lifted my head with a gasp when he finally pressed the long end of the cross inside me. The jeweled object rubbed against my pussy walls like nothing I’d ever felt before, and I’d had some very unusual cocks in my day.