Chapter 39
Seren
Callum is pulling away again.
He still won’t let me in, not completely, and besides breaking my heart, it’s really pissing me off.
Who is he to decide this isn’t going to work?
My mind flashes back to our first disastrous meeting, to our first day in Faerie, to our second day in Faerie when he showed up just in time.
He’s always been right there.
Following me, pursuing me, making sure I stay safe.
And now he’s pulling away?
Not if I have anything to say about it. Sure, it took me a little time to catch up, but I’m here now. If he thinks insignificant obstacles like a bad bargain with his boss and a parent to support are going to get in my way, he really doesn’t know me at all.
“We’ll figure it out,” I insist.
“Figure what out?”
“Life. All of it. Everything. We’ll figure it out.”
“What life, Seren?” he says, and despite how agonized he sounds, I want to shake him.
“Our life!”
He laughs, bitter and defeated. “I can’t give you a life that’s worthy of you, my star.”
Okay. Enough of this.
I do shake him this time. I stand from the bench, move in front of him, take him by his big, broad, stupidly handsome shoulders and give him a good jostle until he has to look at me.
“Again, how about you let me decide what’s worthy of me and what’s not?”
So much conflict in those crimson eyes. Something hopeful, and resigned, like he wants to believe he can be enough for me but won’t let himself.
I don’t know what to say.
I don’t know what to do.
We have to face a fae queen tomorrow.
We have to go back to that cursed court, stand in front of her, offer her a consolation prize for what she really wants, and hope we somehow make it out alive to tell the tale.
With all that in mind, I’m tired of having this circular argument.
Callum will come around, or he won’t, and I don’t want to spend these few stolen hours we have together worrying what the outcome will be.
“Listen to me,” I say, and though the misery still hasn’t left his eyes, at least I have his attention. “Tomorrow, we’re going to Faerie. We’ll give the queen the ring and the letter, and she’s going to be so moved by it she’ll give us her damn bounty.”
Even as I say it, the likelihood of it actually happening seems laughable, but I keep going.
That’s just who I am, isn’t it?
Seren Pendergast, the witch who never knows when to quit.
Even when I probably should.
“And then you’ll take your half and sort your life out, and I’ll take my half and do… something with it. I’ll figure it out. It’s not important. What I’m trying to say is that we can do this, Callum. We just have to make it through tomorrow.”
He breathes deep, nods, and though the shadows in his eyes tell a different story, I’m going to take his acceptance at face-value for now.
Without another word or a second thought, I pull my shirt up and over my head. I toss it aside and reach for the button on my jeans.
“What are you doing?”
“What do you think I’m doing?” The jeans go next. I shimmy out of them and leave them in a heap at my feet, then put my hands on my hips and give him a challenging stare.
Despite his hesitation, I can’t miss the banked heat in his eyes. The want. The need.
Whatever battles he’s fighting with himself, I hope he wants this enough to set them aside for tonight.
“Seren—”
I kiss him. Quick and stumbling, my lips crashing into his before he can say anything else.
After a heartbeat’s hesitation, he kisses me back.
Only kiss isn’t exactly the word for it.
Callum devours me.
One hand on my ass, the other buried in my hair, he pulls me into him.
Even with him sitting and me standing, he’s so damn tall that the angle is just right.
Our faces align perfectly, mine just a little higher than his, and when I clutch at his horns and tilt his head back, lift my lips from his, it’s the prettiest picture I’ve ever seen.
My demon mate, wild-eyed and panting. Lips parted, crimson gaze locked on me like I’m the only thing in the universe that matters.
“I know how I want to spend tonight.” I lean in, run my lips over his throat under the line of his beard, press my teeth against his skin. “What do you want, Callum?”
Between one breath and the next, I’m plucked right off my feet.
Spun around and sprawled out on the mattress faster than I can process what’s happening, my demon looms above me. Wings spread wide and all the handsome angles of his face thrown into stark relief in the firelight, his wicked smile bares both fangs.
“You have to ask me that, star?”
To repay my little love bite, he leans down and runs his lips over my neck, scrapes the tips of his fangs against my skin.
Back bowing, I arch off the bed and find his horns, pull him closer.
Heat simmers beneath my skin, and magick sparks sharp and bright between us—glittering gold and embers, running through my veins like starlight.
Shimmering in the air like starlight.
Just like back in the hotel, it’s as if the magick of our bond has been made tangible. A hundred golden threads tying us together.
I reach for my own magick and try to catch the end of one, try to tug it to see what will happen.
Callum groans.
“Did that… hurt?”
“No,” he says, still with a bit of a groan in his voice. “Do it again.”
I obey and watch his pupils dilate, almost taking over the crimson of his eyes.
“What is that?” he asks, fingers flexing on my hips, claws pricking against my skin. “What are you doing?”
“Just playing with these a little.” I raise one hand and run my fingers through the golden filaments surrounding us, marveling at them.
Callum marvels, too, even as his hands start exploring again. Mapping my waist, the curve of my spine, running higher over my back until he finds what he’s looking for.
He fiddles with the clasp of my bra for a few frustrated seconds before a warning growl rumbles in his chest.
“Figuring it out back there?”
Another growl, and I have to stifle a giggle. “If you don’t want it torn off, you’re going to have to help me.”
“No tearing, please,” I say as I reach behind my back and undo the clasp. “I don’t have any spares in my bag.”
Callum finishes the job, sliding it the rest of the way off me and tossing it over the side of the bed.
And then he lunges.
Arms wrapped around me, he uses one powerful beat of his wings to push us the rest of the way up the bed, until I’m nestled against the mound of soft, plush pillows.
It feels like heaven, and even more heavenly is the demon above me who claims my lips, wedges himself between my spread thighs, lays his whole body on top of me as he kisses me thoroughly.
While he does, he grinds his hips against me, lets me feel how hard he is for me already.
It makes me crazed.
It makes me arch into him, meet his thrust with the press of my hips, angling so he hits just right, runs the length of himself over me until I moan into his mouth.
The sound spurs him on, and he presses me deeper into the mattress, thrusts his tongue into my mouth, and all the sensation has a warm wave of pleasure rising deep from the bottom of my belly.
It’s all happening so fast.
Too fast, probably, but I manage to tear my lips from his and slow us down for at least a moment.
“Is there… is there anything…”
His eyes seek mine, his brow furrows, and he finds his words through breath coming as hard and fast as mine. “What are you trying to ask me, star?”
“Is there anything else you like? Right now, I mean. Is there anything… intimate, that we’re missing? Anything demons do that humans don’t?”
His gaze softens, and the small smile that turns up the corners of his lips makes my heart lurch.
“This is wonderful.”
I start to protest, and he lays a finger against my lips.
“This is wonderful, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. But maybe someday you’ll let me claim you in the demon way.”
“And what kind of way is that?”
His eyes darken from crimson to garnet. His smile widens, sharpens, exposing the tips of his fangs.
“Demons like a chase. We like to pursue our mates, to catch them, to claim them.”
He leans in, runs those fangs over the tender skin at the side of my throat.
“Maybe someday you’ll let me chase you, let me claim you, but for now I’m more than happy to be right here with you, Seren.”
Goddess, why do I like the sound of that so much? Why do I like the idea of my big, strong, handsome demon mate chasing me through a forest, catching me, maybe sinking those fangs of his into me and—
“What about these?” I run my thumb down his fang, press the pad against the sharp tip.
Not breaking the skin, but almost.
I have to know.
“What about them, star?”
“Are they just for show, or do you—”
“Use them to bite?” Callum presses down, just a little, and a drop of blood wells up.
I gasp.
His eyes go molten.
With a quick dart of his tongue, he licks the drop away, and a deep groan of pleasure rumbles in his chest.
“They’re not just for show.”
That sinful promise, growled against my lips, sends heat flooding through me.
“They’re for marking our partners. For drinking from them and leaving the evidence behind so the entire world will know they’re claimed.”
“Where would you mark me?”
A deep growl sounds in Callum’s chest. “Witch, you should know better than to ask me that.”
He maps a path down my body—lips seeking, fangs rasping against my skin. He doesn’t waste any time pulling my panties off and tossing those aside, too, baring me to him as he settles himself at the juncture of my thighs.
My demon has no patience tonight, no desire to slow down and tease me. His tongue traces up the seam of my pussy, presses inside, slides higher until he finds my clit and gives it a hard flick.
I cry out, clutch his horns, arch my back and press myself into his face, just as greedy as he is. Claws retracted, he presses two fingers deep, strokes forward, stretches me, and demands my pleasure. There’s nowhere to hide, nowhere to retreat even if I wanted to.