Chapter 2
Sitting in a throne in the center of the room, Orion stared at me like he thought I’d disappear if he so much as blinked. I should have taken more notice of that, but currently, I was too busy being pissed off.
Jealousy—it’s an ugly beast.
“What the fuck?” Stalking toward him, I sketched a gesture that encompassed the entire room. “I mean, I get that I was kind of out of the picture for a little bit but did you have to immediately revert back to Orion the hound dog once I was gone?”
He didn’t answer.
Well, he blinked. Maybe that was an answer... of a sort. His lids drooped, almost sluggishly before coming back up, golden eyes focusing on me with that same rapt attention.
“Aren’t you going to answer?”
“You’re here.”
His stunned, quiet statement cut through my anger in a way nothing else could.
“I… well, yeah. Of course I’m here.” I drove my fingers through my hair and dragged in a deep, calming breath.
Fuck, I’d forgotten how beautiful he was. He stood and approached me, wearing only a pair of simple pants that did little to hide his incredible body.
The body of a demigod.
Hard lines. Sculpted features. And a striking gaze that made my tongue thick in my mouth.
“Orion…” It came out in a husky, shaken whisper. Lifting a hand, I touched his chest and found that he felt almost… cool. Not cold, but his body temperature was far lower than it should have been. Without thinking, I blurted out, “Are you sick?”
He raised a brow and I saw my cocky lover in the expression, waiting in the shadows of his sadness.
Scowling, I poked him in the shoulder. “Hey, don’t look so offended. Even demigods can get sick.”
“Of course, little star.” He cupped my cheek, his touch reverent.
I sucked in a breath as his flesh started to warm on contact. Closing my fingers around his wrist, I studied him and saw all the changes I’d missed.
He’d lost weight; evident by the sharp angles of his cheekbones. He was dimmer, too—as if some vital light inside him had been vanquished.
“You’ve changed,” I whispered.
“I have.”
His softly spoken words startled me and I looked at him, lost.
He traced his thumb over my lower lip and I decided I didn’t care about his little orgy party anymore, one he hadn’t been an active participant in.
I just wanted him.
I wanted to erase the pain lingering in his starlit eyes.
I felt the echo of that along the bond between us and realized with dismay that it was damaged—all but worn away from grief and sadness.
Unable to find the words, I cupped his face in my hands and kissed him as gently as I could.
He shuddered and as I pulled away, Orion started to… glow.
“What happened to you?” I asked, placing my hand on his chest. In stunned amazement, I watched as golden warmth formed under my touch—under Orion’s skin.
It spread like a star going supernova inside him.
It expanded and a wild, beautiful glow slid over his skin, under it, through him, chasing away that grim, washed-out pallor until it was only a memory.
“Some vital light within me was extinguished the day you left, Lily.” He smiled and it was tender and sweet. “I thought you were dead—a vital light, extinguished.”
“Oh.” Tears pricked my eyes and I blinked them back. I couldn’t do much about the ache in my heart, though.
Orion kept staring at me, fingers sliding from my cheek to stroke down the sensitive arch of my neck. “I still can’t believe you’re here. Is this a dream?”
“I’m really here,” I assured him.
Guilt panged in my chest. And to think I’d yelled at him. He was a demigod who thrived on sexual energy and I’d been gone—dead. He’d thought I was lost to him. What would have happened if I hadn’t come back now? Would he have—
“Stop thinking so hard.” He threaded his fingers into my hair and tugged until I met his eyes.
The magnetic, magical glow grew stronger and the scattering of freckles across his cheeks once more held the warmth of life.
“I’m a demigod, Lily. I don’t die that easily, if that’s what you’re worried about. ”
Throat thick with unspoken emotions, I kissed him again. Each successive touch between us made the bond strengthen.
But it wasn’t enough.
Too much of his formidable strength had ebbed in the time I’d been gone.
Glancing behind me to ascertain that the door was still closed, I raised my hand to tug at the thread holding up my halter top. “My darling demigod, I’m about to show you how much I appreciate your… endurance.”
“Wait.” He caught my wrists and eased them down, holding them at my sides as I stared at him in surprise. “Just… wait. I want to look at you.”
And he did, gaze searching mine before moving off to roam over me hungrily—but not just the curvy parts. He stroked my cheek, combed his fingers through my hair, leaned in close and rubbed his cheek across my shoulder.
My heart clenched painfully inside my chest.
Who was this man?
Where was Orion the demigod man-whore? I almost didn’t recognize this Virtue of mine who touched me so carefully and reverently, who watched me with such intensity, like he thought I’d vanish if he blinked.
Cole…
It came to me, that quiet understanding.
The Dean had killed me, yes, but the Dean wasn’t the only one responsible for Orion’s pain.
Cole was part of this. Cole was why Orion looked at me with the eyes of a man pushed near to the point of breaking.
That damn demon was going to pay for this—Virtue or not.
As if in silent agreement with my vow, the ground lurched beneath me, roiling with rage.
Instinct grabbed me and once more, I snapped out my wings. The pain flared, the weight at my back far too heavy for my untrained muscles. Yet, something deep inside me yearned to leap, to see if these wings could take me soaring into the sky.
“Lily…” Orion breathed out, his eyes on the glorious feathery wings at my back.
In response to the rumbling under our feet, I braced my hands on Orion’s chest, but the rumbling had already stopped. I went to fold my wings away, but he stopped me.
“No. Not yet.” He stroked one hand along the upper inner arch, threading his fingers into the down of my feathers.
I gasped at the shock of sensation that swept over my entire body. It was as if Orion had touched every single part of me with that lazy, teasing touch. “Wow…”
A familiar inner heat appeared in the dark golden depths of his eyes.
As tension pulsed between us, I rose onto my toes and curled my arms around his neck. “Do that again,” I said with a smile.
He did.
I moaned in response, my toes curling as I pressed against him.
Orion’s lips curved, smug satisfaction in his gaze.
“Come here, little star…” He pulled me to him and skimmed his lips down my neck, sending shivers of sensation through me that twined with the golden heat already turning my blood into molten.
“You’re so beautiful. I didn’t think it was possible for you to be any more alluring than you already were, but now…
” He stroked my feathers once more, while his free hand slid under my skirt from behind.
“Now you’re so radiant it almost hurts to look at you.
” He raked his teeth over sensitive skin, then breathed me in.
“You’re complete in your power now—whole.
The angelic side of you is so beautiful, so powerful. ”
“I’m still not…whole,” I argued, even if I hated to admit it, Orion needed to know the truth.
He eyed me from under his lashes.
“Cole…” I explained. Anger flared in his gaze and I stroked his cheek. “He’s a part of me, a part of this, just as you are, Orion. It’ll be difficult to forgive him if he has brought you pain, but he’s a demon, Orion. We can’t expect him to be anything but what he is.”
“He’s tainted the Virtue bond,” Orion growled, pressing a hand to the small of my back to bring me in close. “It’s corrupted from the darkness he carries with him; the darkness and the rage.”
“He’s not the only one with darkness,” I reminded him. There was a reason I would have picked someone like Cole as my Virtue.
I wasn’t perfect.
Far from it.
That darkness burned deep in my heart and called to a demon of rage, something I would have to come to terms with, and soon.
Not that I had to like it.
I saw the doubt in Orion’s gaze but he only nodded, choosing to trust me. I wished I had the same faith in myself.
The ground began to rock and shudder once more.
“What is that?” I asked Orion. He wrapped his arms around my waist, steadying me. I could have protested that I didn’t need the support, but it felt too good to have him all around me.
“Demonspawn attacks.” He adjusted his stance, broad legs braced wide to counter the quaking ground.
“It’s gotten worse since we merged with Monster Academy.
Some of the lower regions of Hell have given their loyalty to Luc over your mother and the Academy is the last line of defense.
She knew you would come back, you know. She never stopped believing it, even if others gave up. ”
Mouth dry, I gazed up at him. “Others, such as you?”
He nuzzled my neck, his kiss an unspoken apology. “I’ll never lose faith in you again, little star. You’re my goddess and I never should have doubted you in the first place.”
Lips soft and gentle, he kissed me behind the ear, then pressed another along my jawline, the corner of my mouth, before he finally licked the lower curve of my lip and teased me into opening for him.
“I’m your devoted follower, Lily.” He ended the kiss far too soon and lowered me to the ground.
Gaze on mine, he sank to his knees.
Oh gods…
Sensation quivered as he traced his fingers along my calves. “Let me worship you, my goddess.”
I was about to tell him to get up—we didn’t have time for this. “Didn’t you say something about Demonspawn attacks?”
Ignoring me, he nudged me down. Feeling the surface behind me, I gave in and found myself in the throne he’d occupied just minutes earlier.
He kissed a path up my inner thigh, his hands working my skirt higher until I was bare from the waist down.
I had to flex and adjust my wings and he helped, seeming to know instinctively how I should hold them—and his assistance was most welcome, because once my skirt was high enough, Orion dipped his head and licked me between the thighs, pushing them wider with no warning or preparation before he faced-bombed and went for the slick wet heat, his tongue coming out to circle my clit with a born seducer’s skill.
“Orion!” I cried as I arched against the sudden sensation, dazed as the pleasure wrenched me into the here and now, away from the confusion of the Virtue bond.
From Cole.
For just those moments, it was simply Orion and me, connecting.
He pushed two fingers into my folds and twisted while he caught my nub between his teeth.
He worked me with his seduction, his skill, and his magic. Pleasure scourged through me and left little behind as my world spun. He shoved me to the edge of climax, making me teeter on the cliff of ecstasy.
I gasped, struggling for air.
He growled, the vibration pushing me over the edge as I screamed.