Chapter 19
Cole’s arms tightened around me, an affirmation of his presence as the Astral Plane gave way and dropped us into a yawning void of nothingness.
It pulled me away from my angelic mates. They couldn’t follow me where we were going.
But Cole could.
I ground my teeth together, trying to remind myself that he was stuck in this endless freefall, too.
“I’m sorry, Lilith,” he said, his lips brushing my ear as he spoke.
I shivered at the sensation and a new urge made itself known. I’d once hated that name, but now it had grown on me.
I turned my face into Cole’s neck so I could speak into his ear. “What for?”
Had this been an intentional trap?
Or had he been as surprised as I was?
Whatever those weapons were, they had been trapped underneath the altar of one of Cole’s most powerful torture realms. And even then, he’d had to break through a protective barrier spell to get to them.
Innately I knew what they were. Blades forged with the power of Blood Stones, the very heart of the magic that powered Hell.
His arms tightened and I felt his hand at the small of my back, fingers spread wide, stroking bare skin. Such small caresses that gave me uncontrollable shivers. How could they impact me like they did?
“This is my fault,” he said in my ear. “I should have realized Lucifer wouldn’t waste an opportunity to take you. Now he has us trapped in this vortex of time and there’s no way to escape until he’s good and ready for us to be free.”
I had to struggle to think, my body reacting to his, and those small simple strokes, but the words finally penetrated. “Do you know how long we’ll be here?”
“Yes.” He kissed my neck, the gesture so natural as we fell. “Earth. We’ll be here until he’s ready for his next big play—his final play. We’re stuck here until that moment comes.”
“So this is a trap,” I translated. Even if I believed him that he hadn’t known about it, I had still failed.
Lucifer was one step ahead of me.
Again.
“I’m so sorry,” Cole said, his words stunning me. “Forgive me. My arrogance failed you.”
Each word fell on the battered, open wound of my heart, stirring up urges of anger, resentment, and need.
“I don’t know if I can.” My heart broke a little more with the admission, my thoughts on my Virtues and their struggle to free themselves from the effects of Calamity’s evil.
“I understand. I’ll wait as long as I must, do everything I can to prove myself worthy of your love, Lilith.” He stroked a hand down my side.
I shivered.
“You ache with need.” He nuzzled my neck. “Let me bring you to pleasure.”
My laughter held both scorn and demand. “You just admitted your fuck-ups helped put us here and you want me to reward you with a quick fuck?”
“No. This is for you.” He maneuvered me in his hold, turned me so my back was to his chest. One hand stroked down my middle while his tail wound up my leg. “You’re so wet, little angel. So needy. Let me satisfy you.”
He was right. I’d been trapped in a hot state of constant need, the sensations only worsened by the fact I couldn’t bond with my angel Virtues just yet.
Not until Cole and I worked this out.
Not until… I accepted him.
Yet, it didn’t feel right to accept the pleasure he offered, not when so many of my mates suffered because of me.
His tail inched higher, waiting for my permission.
He wouldn’t overstep his boundaries with me, not ever again, something I knew with certainty.
A whimper escaped me as he pressed his hand on my middle, holding me close to him. It wasn’t the touch of a lust-filled rage demon, but one of my mates who sensed my hurt, who wanted to absolve my burning desire.
My need hurt, the succubus inside of me starved and my cravings unsated.
I was of no use to anyone like this.
“Let me apologize,” Cole ventured, his lips on my neck as my wings fanned out, his body pressing close to mine from behind, brushing the sensitive part of my feathers. “Let me give you pleasure instead of pain.”
I knew he needed this, perhaps even more than I did.
And perhaps… this was how I would defeat Lucifer.
Not with complex scheming or plans.
But simply with love.
Closing my eyes, I relaxed, feeling like I had finally figured out what it was I needed to do.
“Slowly,” I ordered. “And if this is a trick—”
“It’s not,” he promised, his tail sliding higher as his fingers went to my zipper, slowly pulling it down. When he’d shimmied my pants over my hips, he wasted no time pushing my underwear aside.
I held my breath until his tail slid upwards, entering my wet folds and pressing friction to my core. My eyelids fluttered closed, the sensation an incredible one.
He molded the shape of his tail to me, suctioning around my sensitive nub, rubbing in small circles as his tongue lapped at my ear. “Let your worries go, little angel. Let me give this moment of reprieve to you.”
I squeezed my eyes shut as he cupped one hand under my shirt, teasing my breast as my pants hung around my knees, preventing me from opening to him.
“More,” I demanded.
He licked my neck, then bit the sensitive arch where it gave way to my shoulder.
Then his tail formed the right shape, shoving into me and filling me from the inside in a way only a true demon could.
I cried out, arching my spine and thrusting back, demanding more.
His wings flared, keeping us centered in our freefall as he worked me, his hand dipping lower underneath my pants as my underwear stretched at my groin, pushed aside by his tail as he pumped me again and again.
Covering his hands with mine, I lifted my hips, rolled, searching for the deepest penetration. I found it with a hungry moan that faded into a whimper as his tail pulsed and swelled inside me.
He mimicked how his cock would feel, a reminder of what was to come if we could bridge this divide between us.
Harder and harder, I moved while he arched under me, lifting to meet my every move.
Time had no meaning in the dark vortex. I had no way to discern how long he let me use him for my own pleasure, but I was greedy for him. Without warning, my orgasm slammed into me.
He did it again.
Then tormented me, working my swollen core until stars sprinkled my vision.
He only stopped when I begged for reprieve, my words broken and incoherent by the time he finally released me with a growl. I was too drained to do anything but collapse against him.
He wrapped both arms around me and nuzzled my neck. The sweet gesture from him, my rage demon, was so out of place, my eyes stung at the poignancy. I went to push away from him, only to freeze as I remembered.
“We’re still falling,” I said, the wind nearly snatching the words from my lips.
“Yes.”
He steadied me as I adjusted my pants, my underwear impossibly wet, then tugged me back into his embrace before using his wings and strength to adjust us so I could face him, his sense of orientation in the darkness uncanny.
“Lilith—”
I kissed him, still not ready to talk. Stroking a hand down his chest. I ventured down, finding the hard length of him aching with a need that echoed my own.
“Lilith…” This time, my name came out as a moan and he covered my hand with his own, tightening my fingers in a silent plea.
One that I denied.
His dark gaze knew he hadn’t earned all of me yet, but instead of embracing the rage that lingered in the back of his eyes, he grinned and slipped his tail up my leg.
“Scream for me again, little angel.”