14 Satan
Satan
The weekend passed in a blur between shopping, movie nights, and a shitload of sex.
I didn’t hate her anymore but I fucking wished I did.
It would have made all this shit easier.
Three days stuffed between our dorm and the mall with the most off-the-wall sex I’d had in years had definitely made it harder to come to terms with what she now meant to me.
I had never wanted a mate. I didn’t believe I needed one because, with a mate, there were rules. Rules that Ari was only beginning to learn.
Sometimes hell had more rules than heaven when it came to partners.
Sure, we didn’t get married but mates were for life.
Through thick and thin. They were forever.
Ignoring a bond didn’t make it go away. Distance only sharpened the pull until being away from your mate started to feel wrong, and resisting the need for them made it worse.
With Temptation as our mate, that was the part that scared me.
I was Wrath. Luc was Pride. Ari made everything already inside us stronger.
When things were good, apparently that meant three days of fucking, eating, shopping, and watching Ari scream at reality television.
When things weren’t good, I didn’t particularly want to find out what happened when Wrath got into a real fight with the one person my essence had decided mattered more than anything else.
Worse, Ari was such a sweet girl wrapped up in a hard exterior.
Life had made her tough, but underneath all the snark and those cheeky comments, she still gave a shit.
She wanted things to be fair. She worried about hurting people who had spent years hurting her.
Then she’d turn around and find some new way to catch us unaware so we’d fuck that tight pussy until she passed out.
I didn’t understand what Dante was thinking, not that he had answered his phone since he had handed us the impossibility except for Luc’s one call.
What should have been one day had turned into three and I knew Dante had planned it like that.
If she truly was connected to all seven of us, a week was barely enough time for the bonds with just the two of us to settle.
Taking a deep breath, I shook my head to rid myself of all the heavy thoughts, looking around to see where Ari and Luc were while they finished getting ready. It had been a blessing that Ari had been dropped off on a Friday afternoon but now it was time to blend in again.
We caught Ari up on a few of the human norms such as how to utilize the internet and even her own mobile device.
She had happily obliged, as long as we provided her with a chai latte, extra whipped cream and chocolate chips.
She was easily pleased and I was beginning to really like the way her silver eyes lit up when she got excited about something.
Watching her during one of the few downtimes we had had this weekend, her eyes widening at the TV as images passed over it had been exhilarating.
Yesterday, she’d spent ten straight minutes arguing with some woman on a reality show like the human could hear her through the screen, then looked genuinely offended when I laughed.
My cock thickened at the thought, pressing uncomfortably against the seam of my pants and I bit back a growl. It wasn’t lost on me that I was becoming infatuated with the girl. I didn’t just want to fuck her anymore. I wanted her. I wanted the conversation. I wanted her time.
She was, in every sense of the word, a temptation.
Ari emerged from the bathroom, throwing her hands up. “Ta-da! Luc said I needed makeup.”
I nearly exploded in my pants at the sight before me. She was dressed in that skintight lavender dress that hugged every goddamn curve of her body, accentuating the same tits that I had had stuffed in my mouth just this morning.
The short lavender hem skimmed high across her thighs, leaving an expanse of golden-brown skin on display that seemed to go on forever.
My eyes rose to her face, hues of purple and blue adorning her eyelids, a thick red coat of paint slathered on her lips.
I readjusted myself as I stared at her, watching her approach me with a sultry sway to her hips.
My tail slipped loose before I noticed, curling once around her calf.
Ari glanced down and then back up at me, amused. “That yours?”
“Don’t start.”
She smiled wider and brushed two fingers over the tip. Heat snapped through me hard enough that my claws threatened to push through.
Luc came around the corner and stopped. “Absolutely fucking not.”
Ari blinked. “I didn’t do anything.”
“His tail is wrapped around your leg.”
“That sounds like his problem.”
I forced it loose before she could touch it again.
“Stay the fuck away from each other. We have to go to school,” Luc growled at us. I grunted and Ari sighed, groaning when Luc shoved a pair of biker gloves at her. “Wear these.”
She held them up, staring at them. “Why?”
“Because we don’t know how far this Temptation shit reaches now that Dante loosened whatever Heaven had buried in you. You touch a human and I’m not sure what’s going to happen.”
She stared at them dubiously, sliding them over her long fingers. “When I came to earth the other times, I touched people all the time. Nothing happened then.”
I stared at her and then at my brother. He seemed concerned.
“We’re not going to unpack that shit right now.” Luc shoved his hands into his pockets and looked toward the door like he was already regretting the day. “We’re going to class and you’re not going to touch anyone until we know if anything changed.”
“So you don’t know.”
“I know enough to be cautious.”
Ari made a face but kept the gloves on. “Fine.”
She looked at me again and my tail twitched behind my leg.
Luc caught it.
“No.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You were thinking about it.”
“That’s not illegal.”
“With you two, it should be.”
Ari laughed as Luc pushed past her, shaking his head. “Class. Now.”
He looked back to see me and Ari closing our distance and growled again, grabbing me and yanking me out the door. “Until we figure out what the fuck happens with that boost of power we’ve been getting all weekend, no touching in public.”
“Not even a little?” I teased as we stepped into the hallway.
“I want to fucking punch you right now, but we’d end up destroying a village.”
Ari followed behind us, adjusting the strap of her bag. “That seems dramatic.”
“You haven’t seen us actually fight,” I said.
“I watched you break a couch.”
“That was sex.”
“Nick.”
“What?”
At first, I thought having a mate was going to be a chore but if this was how bothered my brother got—the brother who always seemed to be in control—this might be fun after all.
We made it outside, the campus already crowded with students moving between buildings. Ari slowed beside us, taking everything in with open curiosity until a group brushed too close and Luc shifted immediately to her other side, boxing her between us without touching.
“Why are we even going to school? Shit’s boring,” Ari grumbled.
Both of us stopped as we burst out cackling, turning to look at our sweet angel. Her eyes widened when she realized we had heard her, shoulders drawing in slightly.
Luc recovered first. “Ari, we were all given different tasks to utilize and train our gifts. Dante is smart but he’s also a little crazy. He put us in places that strengthen our control.”
“No you didn’t,” she spat, then immediately slapped her hands over her mouth in horror. “Sorry.”
The apology killed most of my amusement.
Luc stared at her for a second before nodding. “You’re right. I didn’t.”
Ari slowly lowered her hands.
I stepped closer, careful to retract the claws that had started to sharpen earlier before resting a hand against her shoulder. “And you don’t have to apologize every time you correct us.”
“I know.”
“You clearly don’t.”
Her mouth tightened. “I’m working on it.”
“That’s all I’m saying.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead before she could overthink it, feeling some of the tension leave her shoulders beneath my hand.
“Angels and demons can’t use their gifts at will because it would upset the balance of the universe.
Dante gives us a chance to learn control by sticking us in situations where losing it would actually matter. ”
Ari glanced between us as we started walking again. “That sounds dangerous.”
“It can be.” I slipped my hands into my pockets before instinct had me reaching for her again. “I’ll explain the rest when we get back home, alright? All you need to know is that you’re allowed to feel. You’re allowed to show emotion, mess up, and do things that aren’t necessarily right.”
Ari opened her mouth to fight me, but I continued before she could.
“You’re not an angel anymore and while it’ll take some time to get used to that, you can start by being yourself.”
“So, just be me?”
“Yes, with all your smiles, love for those godawful lattes, and the snarkiness that creeps in every now and then.”
“It does not creep.”
Luc glanced back at her. “It absolutely creeps.”
Ari rolled her eyes, but a smile was already pulling at her mouth as she fell into step between us. For a few seconds, we walked in relative silence, her shoulder brushing mine every now and then when the crowd forced us closer.
Then she looked up at me. “Why haven’t I been sent to the others yet?”
My smile faded.
“Because Dante knew exactly what would happen here.”
Her brows pulled together. “Meaning?”
“Meaning he sent you to Pride and Wrath first and then gave us three days without checking in.” I glanced at Luc, but he didn’t disagree. “That wasn’t an accident.”
Ari’s pace slowed. “So he’s waiting for something?”
“He’s always waiting for something.”
She looked ahead, chewing on whatever thought had just entered her head. I caught her lightly by the arm before she could drift into another student and redirected her toward the building.
“Whatever it is, he’ll call soon and act surprised you’re still here.”
“And then?”
“Then we find out which asshole he sends you to next.”
She looked up sharply. “Gluttony?”
I grinned. “Still thinking about that?”
“You told me there was literally a demon named Gluttony and then refused to explain.”
“That sounds like a problem for after class.”
“You both suck.”
Luc pushed open the door to the building and looked back at us. “Can we please make it through one lecture without starting another argument?”
“No promises,” Ari said.
I laughed and followed her inside, knowing there was no fucking chance I was going to focus on anything other than the tight little ass of my mate stuffed into that lavender dress.