Chapter 16
JESSIA
Ichewed on my fingernail as I waited for Devil in our room.
My stomach tangled with worry even though every person I’d spoken to today said he was fine and Pierce couldn’t do a damn thing to hurt him.
Instinct was hard to shake, but I kept reaching for the bond and felt only frozen rage, no pain, no fear, so I told myself to stop worrying.
But hours and hours later, with the clubhouse quiet and dark, and all my friends in their beds, the anxiety was harder to shake. I’d done everything I could think of to distract myself, and showered and got ready for bed, but not a single cell in my body would relax until Devil was here.
I sat at the dressing table he’d had brought in for me and dried my hair with painstaking care; and since I had nothing better to do, I painted my nails a soft pink colour, falling into the therapeutic motions.
I’d just decided to add flower designs to them when the door opening startled me to my feet.
“Fil,” I breathed, rushing to him as he shut the door, his hair damp, not a speck of blood or a single bruise on him. I exhaled hard, and walked into his arms when he opened them for me.
“I felt you worrying,” he murmured, kissing my temple. “Did you forget your mate’s the devil himself?”
“Even the devil can be hurt.” I smoothed my hands over his bare chest, checking he was whole. “Is it—done? He’s gone?”
His arms tightened across my back, a reassuring weight that pushed away the last of my anxiety. “He’s gone,” Devil promised. “He’ll never get to you again.”
It didn’t take away the fear that had burrowed into my bones, didn’t erase any of the things Pierce had done or the way I’d had to survive, but I never had to see his face again. He could never send another message. I wouldn’t feel true relief for a long, long time, but it was over.
“Thank you,” I breathed, pulling Devil as close as I could get him.
“I made sure he regretted it,” he promised, his head bowed, face pressed to my throat. “Every last thing he did to you. And I want a list of anyone else who’s ever hurt you.”
“Fil, that’s not necessary,” I said, though my chest warmed.
“Disagree. You’ll write me a list—tomorrow. It’s late now, and all I want is to fall asleep holding you.”
As sweet as that was… “Not a chance.” I flattened my palms to his warm chest and walked him backward towards the bed.
“Angel…”
“Fil. You just killed my abusive ex-husband. You expect me to let that go unrewarded?”
“I didn’t do it for a reward,” he argued, though he allowed me to push him down onto the edge of the bed. “I did it because I’ll kill every last person on the Earth who dares to hurt you. And because I really wanted to make him suffer.”
I sank to my knees before my mate and stroked my hands up his thighs, watching his throat bob, his eyes blazing as they fixed on me. Bit by bit, I felt the ice melt in his soul, and he exhaled a slow breath.
“I want you to bite me,” I said, as if we didn’t both know I’d wanted that for weeks.
Devil groaned, the sound so hot that it made me squirm, a pulse between my legs. “It would be my fucking honour,” he said thickly.
“And I want you to knot me. I know,” I said when he began to disagree. “Betas struggle to take it, but I can.” I held his gaze. “I want to. Please.”
Devil’s eyes fell shut, his groan this time pained. “Only if you’re ready to come four times first.”
“Oh, no,” I drawled, reaching into the black sweatpants he’d changed into some time in the past six hours. “Not four orgasms. However will I cope?”
He might have said something, but I took him into my mouth and slid all the way down, robbing him of speech.