Chapter Thirty-Nine
Luke
Despite what I lacked in senses, that knowing tingle still sparked in my skull when someone entered my domain. I hadn’t discovered Harvest’s presence until he was far too close to Kara—too close to her—which meant the tether between Hell and the Underworld had broken.
If the right person knew what they were doing, they could breach my world.
He hadn’t slipped in through some overlooked crack.
No—he used a portal chip.
With every step forward, I glanced down at Kara’s hand in mine, half-expecting she’d pulled away. She hadn’t. So I kept walking. My eyes flicked back to the ever-changing land. It was beautiful now, vibrant and alive—twisting with warmth and color—but I trusted none of it.
I told Kara Harvest wouldn’t return. Yet, I watched every shift of the sky, every flicker of a new creature in the grass, expecting one of them to lunge. It could be mine. Or worse, one of his.
Harvest was a coward. I hoped he stayed that way—until the bitter, inevitable end.
But there was something else. Another risk.
Her siblings.
If the crossover’s proximity weakened the barrier, then they might also reach Hell. Immortal or mortal, I wasn’t worried about what they could do to me. It was what they might try—taking what was mine—that stirred something hot and ugly in my chest.
Harvest had been enough of an interruption. If I hadn’t been beneath Kara, her thighs trembling around my head, if I hadn’t been dragging my tongue across her soaked panties, I might have sensed the bastard sooner. I might have stopped him before he even landed.
Instead, I was lost in her.
Even now, I could still smell her on my mouth. Her arousal drying between her thighs as we walked—I could scent every bit of it.
Kara walked beside me like she hadn’t just come apart on my face.
Irritation swam through my veins—not just from the attack, but from the interruption.
Then came the astonishment again.
I could still smell her.
And it wasn’t fleeting, not some blip of awareness. Her scent lingered, clung to me like my skin had absorbed it, like she’d soaked into me—warm, like she was a balm I didn’t know I needed until I had it.
Fuck.
I couldn’t get enough. I wanted her scent on me, in me. I wanted to drown in it.
When Kara had first plagued my existence through that vision, I’d been certain the cost of her would be too high. That having someone like her in my world must demand a price. And I’d paid it. No touch. No taste. No scent. No true sense of her at all.
And yet here I was—breathing her in. Again and again.
And it was ruining me.
My heart hammered in my chest like a wild thing, pathetic and uncontrolled. The honeysuckle scent and heat clinging to her skin felt… forbidden. Like I was breaking a law written for gods. This must’ve been what it felt like for Eve the moment I whispered to her, Take the bite. Just once.
I had made peace with the loss—had accepted I’d never be able to touch her, smell her, and taste her the way I burned to. That was the price.
But now?
Now, scent had returned like a cruel gift. A temptation tossed at my feet right before the end.
“Would you put that thing away?” Kara’s voice cut through my spiraling hunger, dry and unimpressed.
She pointed down.
I followed her finger to where my tail was swaying, thwacking lightly against her leg.
“I can’t help it,” I muttered.
“It’s like you’re wagging,” she said.
I hadn’t realized I was showing it. I’d grown tired of scaring her with it when I started acknowledging I didn’t want her to fear parts or any of me. In the beginning, as a monster, I expected it, knowing I would be the villain in her story.
Kara was silly, hopeful, and na?ve. I’d always known those things—her stubbornness, her obsession with proving herself like her siblings. All those traits of hers I found nauseatingly pleasant. It was her, who she was. That’s why I knew she would be sad by the time I finished, and yet…
Anticipation lit through me like a flash of tingles in my stomach and chest.
The lying to myself was over. I didn’t need to pretend with Kara Reaper. Not when I was getting everything I wanted.
She crinkled her nose. “What are you so excited about?”
I flattened my tail, not realizing how much I gave away with the appendage.
“I can smell you,” I said, then waited, smiling as the blush hit her cheeks. Despite the heat on her skin, her chin wobbled, and her gaze was full of uncertainty.
There were so many scents in Hell, but the only one I cared to recognize was honeysuckle. Yours.
Why couldn’t I have said that to her instead? That in a world of smells again, I only yearned for hers. It was so much easier to demand her attention, and I knew she was too strong-hearted. Her desire for me was real, always had been, like she tried to tell me, and maybe she hated herself for it.
I knew far too much about how that felt, which was why my choice of the end had always been determined.
The truth was, I kept saying choice, though it had never been one.
Just a tangled web of emotions that needed to be sorted out, then accepted.
Sometimes, we didn’t get to choose. Fade did it for us.
Her fear mingled through the air. She should be a little scared since I’d imagine she was thinking about the crossover like I was.
The end wouldn’t go as her family wanted it.
When the worlds fell away, people were going to hurt.
Hmm, that’s likely why I became the Devil.
I lacked the empathy she had. Knowing people would be hurt from my choice didn’t bother me like it did sweet, sweet Kara.
Let the rest burn. I was getting what I wanted. Fuck the rest.
“Well, I’m not letting you touch me anymore,” Kara declared, skin still flushed.
She was fucking beautiful. I could fall to my knees and stare for fucking hours. I’d already done it plenty of times, watched her endlessly, but the world was fucked, it was the end, and I no longer gave a shit about entertaining myself with lies.
Honestly, why did I keep up with the deceit for so long? This was so much better. Holy fuck. I was going to drown myself in her arousal—wash away the bitter sting of her fear.
I ran my thumb over the top of her hand and smiled, knowing the gesture probably looked menacing on me. “Okay.”
Oh, I was definitely making her come soon.
She narrowed her eyes. “I’m serious.”
“Okay.” I tugged her forward. “Not much further.”
“So we’re just going to hold hands and wait for your grand finale?”
“Kara.” I groaned, unable to get rid of the disgusting bliss inside me. Stopping quickly, I glimpsed at her and saw the sulky glare on her face. “I want to fuck you badly. I wish I could. Holding your hand is fucking ridiculous, but I won’t stop because I want to do that too.”
Her blue eyes shone like crystals as she sucked in a breath. Good. I’d surprised her.
I resumed walking. My nostrils flared when I picked up the fresh burst of arousal emitting from between her legs. Not letting me touch her, she mentioned. Those words were indeed untrue. I’d make sure—
I stopped as a single red petal floated in the air, a mere inch from my face. Time seemed to stand still. My mouth parted as another drifted toward me, then another until there were dozens landing on the tall grass around me.
Kara caught one in her hand. “Where are they coming from?”
The answer was simple. About a quarter of a mile in front of us, there was an entire forest of trees bearing those petals that looked like flowers.
All those years, I always thought it was petals. It was leaves. Red fucking leaves.
The crossover was among the trees. I sensed it, but right then, all I could see was red.
How many times did I tell myself I wouldn’t succumb to the vision when it came? A better question—how many times had I believed my own lies?
She might lead me to death in those woods.
And still—I would follow. Her expression had always been that of seduction in the visualization, but there was only so much I could do for her as I was.
Why would the vision be about pleasure when she knew I couldn’t be physically seduced?
Well, I was a very willing victim who could do everything but fuck her.
But…
She told me she’d stop me in the end, and I believed she’d try.
Our fate was tied up in those trees. The last trail before our fate was sealed. I had to survive the next few hours with her to claim my prize.