Chapter 9 Lucifer
Lucifer
It was slicing at Lucifer to see Galilee cry. He’d seen the humiliation on her face the moment things clicked for her, right
before she locked it up behind a dull and numb wall. Galilee had every right to be upset—she was begging him to believe her,
after all, even though she’d done nothing wrong. His princes would call him a fool, but Lucifer had meant it when he said
he didn’t care if she was there to destroy him. Still, he couldn’t tell Galilee that she wasn’t a threat because that would
be a lie—her power made sure of that, no matter her intention. The fact that she truly seemed to have no idea what she was
didn’t help—it was possibly even more dangerous than if she’d had an answer.
When she broke down and reached for him, it took her barely a second before she tried to pull away again, but Lucifer caught
her by the wrist, pleasure and fire leaping through him the moment their skin made contact. Galilee’s eyes widened, and she
tugged against his hold.
“I’m hurting you,” she said. Tear tracks were tangled in her freckles, and Lucifer wanted to lick them away. He settled for
bringing her palm to his mouth and kissing it, relishing the way lightning danced past his lips, flashing against his tongue.
“Touching you is like making love to a storm,” he told her, smiling as her pupils spread out even more.
“Hurt doesn’t mean the same thing to the both of us, little demon.
To you, it’s something that feels bad, that you seek to avoid.
” He wrapped her in a hug, tucking her head under his chin.
“I like it, Galilee. I want it. You burn me, but you don’t wound me. ”
She let out a shaky breath and slid her arms around him, trailing fire along his flesh. “You sure?”
His chest twisted at her concern. She treated him gently, like he was the mortal one. Levi would assume it was a mask or a
trap, but Lucifer knew the truth. He could feel it brushing up against him, and he believed it. Galilee Kincaid was an innocent,
even with all that incomprehensible power. It wouldn’t stop Levi’s execution sentence against her, but it did mean Lucifer
was going to fight to keep her safe, even from the ones he loved most.
Galilee’s voice nudged at him, pressed against his chest. “Lucifer, are you sure?”
He dragged himself back and dropped a kiss on her hair. “Yes, beloved.”
She made a rough, pleased sound at the endearment, and Lucifer swore under his breath, his entire body pierced with the flame
of her body flush against his. She was going to be the death of something, if not him.
“You make me more sure every moment,” he said. “Not just with what you do to me, but with who you are, every little glimpse
I see of your soul. I want to keep touching you.” All these confessions, spilling foolishly out of his mouth, and he was still
holding back the biggest one. Belial would kill him if she heard any of them, or at the very least chain him somewhere with
sanctified iron while she killed Galilee.
“What would it take to wound you?” Galilee asked. She sounded curious again, and Lucifer was grateful for it. Anything was
better than when she had been so heartbroken a moment before.
“Most likely just intention,” he answered.
“You already burn me without even thinking about it—if you were to focus your power deliberately, you could probably cause some damage.” Lucifer was aware he was handing her an instruction manual against him, but Galilee was a gamble he was willing to take.
She pulled slightly away and tipped up to brush a molten kiss against his jaw. It danced over his skin and into his bone,
and Lucifer growled in the back of his throat.
“And you like this?” she asked, a small flame of mischief lighting up in her eyes.
In answer, he backed them even more against the wall and pressed his hips against hers. Galilee gasped as she felt the length
of his erection against her stomach, and Lucifer slid a hand behind her neck, leaning down to lick her ear.
“Does it feel like I like it?” he murmured.
“Damn, Lucifer.” Gali dragged his head down and kissed him, her tongue electric as it slid through his lips. He drew in a scorched
breath, and for a moment, Lucifer swore he could almost taste her soul, so clear and bright, calling to him. In a moment he
would stop and explain everything—how to protect her from his princes, how he was the best bargain she could make—but for
now, he bit the tip of her tongue and ate the whimper that leaked from her mouth. Gali was a rush of delayed deliverance against
his skin, her every touch converting him into a burnt offering. If he was something that could die, then this was how he’d
choose to meet his end.
All his intentions to continue the conversation sloughed away as Gali hiked a leg up, hooking it behind his knee. Lucifer
obliged her by sliding his hands under her thighs and lifting her up so she could wrap both legs around his waist, so she
could press her sweet cunt even closer to him. She shrugged off the robe impatiently, letting the black linen drop to the
floor, and wound her arms around his neck like they wouldn’t be close enough until every molecule of air between them was
pressed away.
Lucifer wanted nothing more, but first he broke his mouth away, his cock getting even harder at the sight of her kiss-swollen lips. This wasn’t the conversation he should be having with her, but it was the conversation he was about to have, because fuck his princes and fuck their paranoia. Galilee
Kincaid was in his arms, and he was going to make love to her before he sweet-talked her for her soul.
“Two things,” he said, brushing soft kisses on her temple. “First, protection.”
Galilee raised an eyebrow and slid her legs off him so she was standing again. “Go on,” she said, with a smirk. “You got demon
condoms?”
Lucifer laughed. “You do know I control every single cell of this body, right? I can make myself sterile. I could grow a tail
for fun. I am the protection.”
“Ooh, a tail, sexy.” She grinned at him, but her eyes were wary. “I’m supposed to take your word for it?”
He gave her a look. “Sweetheart, I’ll wear whatever you want. But let’s be clear. I’m the Devil.”
He waited until the implication hit Galilee and her eyes widened.
“You got enough mojo to do whatever you want,” she said, and her voice was no longer flirtatious. “I’m guessing some latex
wouldn’t matter if you wanted to knock me up or give me something.” Her mouth twisted. “Shit, you coulda done anything the
first time we met.”
Lucifer hated seeing her realize the scale of what his power was, but it was important, even as powerful as she was. “What
we’re doing is about trust,” he said gently. “Trust that I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do. I won’t hurt you. If
you’re not there yet, we don’t have to do anything.”
Galilee just stared at him with wide eyes. Lucifer expected her to pull away and out of his arms, but instead, she nodded
slowly. “What was the second thing?”
He exhaled and let himself revel in the burn of her remaining in his embrace. “You know what I am,” he said.
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I think we’re pretty clear on that, Luci.”
His gut tightened. Only his princes, his family, called him that, but hell if it didn’t sound perfect coming from her gorgeous little mouth.
“I don’t want to scare you,” he continued.
Galilee interrupted him immediately. “You did the demon eyes thing with me the first night we met—”
“You mean yesterday?”
“Shut up. You summoned darkness, told me your true name, stalked me to my apartment, then threw us both out of a window, and now you worried about scaring me?”
Lucifer paused, trying to gather himself. She might know what he was, but she didn’t understand, not really. “I’ve been very
careful,” he tried again.
Galilee scoffed outright.
That was enough.
Lucifer grabbed her chin and pinned her head against the wall, making sure her eyes were on his before slackening the hold
on his other form—not enough for his body to change, but enough that the leash he kept wound tight on who he truly was gave
way a fraction or two. He could feel the change blacken his eyes deeper than Galilee had ever seen them, and then the room
filled with intangible presence, with roiling power. The air screamed without a sound, and nonexistent claws carved invisible
strips of plaster from the walls.
Galilee held her breath, her pupils blown out as she stared at Lucifer, her mouth soft and slack. He wanted to fuck it with
his tongue, his fingers, his cock. He wanted to fill it with his blood, his come, his mad desire for her.
“I’ve been very careful,” he continued instead. “I’m always collared, Galilee.”
To his surprise, she braced against the wall and wrapped her legs around him again, rolling her hips as she pulled him close.
Lucifer let go of her face and grabbed her thighs instead, settling his erection between her legs.
Everything burned. She was going to kill him and he was going to be fine with it.
“What happens if you take off the collar?” she asked.
What a death wish. He stroked his denim-covered cock against her little sleep shorts, sliding it over her even as his lungs
ran short of air. She felt so fucking good.
“Not yet,” he answered. “But I’d like to loosen it a little, if you let me.”
Galilee gave him a look so open it punched straight through his chest. “You don’t scare me, Lucifer. You can be as much of
yourself with me as you’d like to. I’ll take every scrap of it.” She made it sound like a threat, and when she leaned in to
kiss his cheek, Lucifer was lost. “I think I might want all of you,” she whispered.
If she was a trap, he never stood a chance.
Lucifer exhaled, and one moment Galilee was wrapped around him and pinned against the wall, the next she was lying on her
back in his bed, her legs still locked around his waist. She giggled like it was all a game, then pulled him down for a kiss,
reaching for the hem of his shirt.