Chapter 1
Groaning, I shifted my weight on a firm mattress I didn’t remember lying down on. My mismatched wings spread lazily behind me, wide enough to drape over the edges of the double-king sized bed fit for a demon.
My newly acquired demon wing snagged the delicate silk with one of the taloned arches, tearing the fabric with a distinct rip.
Damn, I mentally cursed, even though it wouldn’t be the first time I’d had to replace damaged sheets when it came to my demon’s nest.
He preferred expensive silk, and most of all, me in his bed.
Although, hadn’t I been sitting beside Cole’s oversized bed attempting to heal him? That would have been before I’d nodded off, anyway.
I didn’t recall lying down with him, although my body seemed to have a mind of its own lately.
It had been a long three months after the stalemate with Lucifer. He was up there on Earth, somewhere, growing more powerful by the day while he built his army of humans that Calamity unnaturally changed into fresh supernaturals.
Supernaturals that called Lucifer a god.
I was so tired. I couldn’t leave Hell, not until I found my mother or else the whole realm would freeze over without royal blood like mine keeping things warm.
Of course it was an option just to let Hell freeze over. But then what? I’d have nothing to fight Lucifer with, not even my mates because the majority of them were still in a coma.
And when he eventually returned, he had the ancient knowledge to thaw the place and then he’d reclaim his throne with ease.
No, I couldn’t let that happen.
And I couldn’t survive much longer without my mates, either.
Hendrik, Dante, Logan, and Orion were all counting on me. They fought against Calamity’s corruption, but it was a losing battle based on what Raze was telling me.
Then there were the few mates I had left. Two demons and two angels.
Talk about opposites, although, I was coming to realize that my mates weren’t as different as they liked to think they were.
The angel twins, Samael and Azrael, were both immortals who would do anything for me.
Albeit they’d gone slightly insane after being trapped in Purgatory for gods knew how long. They put on a good front even though I still couldn’t properly bond with them.
Giving in to my desire for them would be disastrous right now, something Lucifer had been counting on to happen so that he could finally win.
If I slept with them, it would upset the balance and I’d never unlock my full potential. I couldn’t handle that level of heavenly power, not without the balance of all my other mates to even things out.
Until I found that balance, bonding with my angels would tip the scales too sharply. The bond with my darker mates would break.
And then I’d break with them.
Something I would never allow to happen.
I was going to find a way around this.
First, I would listen to Kaito while he continued to find solutions, and I would help Cole heal from his injuries.
He’d lost his wings… his power… all of it a sacrifice to save me.
With my eyes still closed, my hands swept out over the smooth sheets looking for the demon, attempting to find what had woken me up. My fingers snagged the edges of the sheet my wing had torn and I sighed.
Ugh, I was so tired. I just wanted to sleep.
In my defense, I had been at it for a few days without food or rest. Ever since Cole had lost his wings he’d slipped into a dangerous coma now and again and it worried me to death.
Except now he seemed fine… more than fine, because I realized his head was between my legs.
His forked tongue ran over the inside of my naked thigh, his claws pushing up my skirt.
I had been wearing panties, hadn’t I?
By the effect of his hot breath on my skin, I realized that my clothing had either been burned off or torn away, because my eyes flung open when his tongue swept over sensitive folds, awakening me in an instant.
Somehow I was splayed out on his bed looking down at him as he gave me a merciless grin, his features made all the more devious by the wicked curl of his horns and the ruby gleam of his irises, the lasting features of the creature he’d always been.
Lucifer’s brother, a powerful low-level demon of rage.
And now… my mate.
“Good morning, little angel,” he purred, his tone smug as he pressed his lips against my flesh, sending his words vibrating through my core.
“You’re… supposed to be resting,” I managed to say. My next attempt at speech cut off with a hiss when his tail wrapped around my ankle, pulling my leg aside so that he could have better access to my core.
He hummed with delight as he tasted me, rolling the unique shape of his pronged tongue in a wrapping motion around my swollen nub.
“Mmm, I think I taste the ambrosia that the twins are always going on about.” He laved his tongue over me again, his expression contemplative as if he was testing a fine wine.
“Sweet… and addictive.” He licked me again just to prove the point, making me bow off the bed.
“Cole!” I cried, his talk about the twins driving me over the edge along with his precise attentions.
Because ever since he’d lost his wings, he’d changed.
And he got off on talking about me with my other Virtues… or watching me with them.
I couldn’t engage in penetrative intercourse with my angels, but they insisted on worshipping me nonetheless.
Which, for my heavenly Virtues, consisted of giving me orgasms.
Lots… of orgasms.
It drove me insane because I couldn’t fully reciprocate without finalizing our bond, but I allowed their form of worship because it gave them their magic.
My angels needed a heavenly sort of power that worshipping me gave them, to my surprise.
Kaito had his theories, something about a blessing my angel mother must have given me.
Regardless of the why, worshipping me rejuvenated them and allowed them to fly, allowed them to summon their blades, to create Light, and to grow in strength. They needed to be able to fend for themselves if another attack came—when another attack came.
So, for now, this was how we lived, my needs fully sated by my demon mates while my angels would later torment me with their worship, playing a sensual game that seemed to only intrigue Cole.
“Did Az try the whip on you yet?” he asked, his ruby irises gleaming with sensual delight as his tongue flicked, making me jolt. “Do you think he’d use it… here?” He licked me sharply again, making pleasure spike through my core.
“Cole,” I hissed, reaching down to fist my fingers through his hair, except I caught a horn and I grabbed on tight, intent on preventing him from pleasuring me more.
Because not that long ago he was in one of his comas… something that terrified me.
I couldn’t lose more of my mates.
“You need to be rest—” My sentence cut off when he shoved his tongue inside, fucking me in a way only a demon could.
It felt so wrong… so different…
And yet he knew the exact spot to hit and he used his strength, making me unfurl on an orgasm in an instant that had me screaming.
It was a good thing that the Dean had decided on giving Cole the unoccupied tower that nestled between Lux, the place where incubi and succubi fed—so there were plenty of sensual screams in the night—and the Blood Towers, the place where the Dark Mages harvested willing sacrifice.
So, just in case my screams came out sounding like pleasure or pain—and sometimes with Cole, they were a mixture of both—then I was pretty covered.
Still, it would have been a task for Hendrik to properly soundproof Cole’s tower. I didn’t dare ask any of the other Dark Mages to perform the spell.
I had some semblance of pride.
Although, by the time Cole was finished with me, I wasn’t sure if any level of soundproofing was going to matter.
Using his tail, he held one leg down when I tried to close my thighs again, and he spread me with his fingers, careful not to scratch me with his dangerous claws.
Catching my breath, I watched him as danger glinted in his gaze.
Then he rammed deeper, gulping me down and drawing a long cry out of me as pleasure bloomed through my core.
His tongue was stronger than I ever could have imagined, not that I had a lot of experience with intimacy when it came to a pure-blooded demon in his natural form.
Kaito was a low-level demon as well, but he had a mortal’s body, so sex with him wasn’t quite as… dangerous.
Cole, however, was seventh circle level of sensual torment. He could change various parts of his body just like he could his tail, forming a thick shape that curled in just the right places, driving me to bliss in a fraction of an instant.
He thrusted harder, pressing his chin against my throbbing flesh as he drank in my wetness. My breath caught when his fangs came dangerously close to sensitive flesh.
He knew I liked the excitement of his fangs and claws so close to me, making me feel vulnerable.
It was a test of trust, one that he needed to pass for me to finally accept my demon side that called to him and find the balance required to fulfill my destiny.
A destiny where all my mates survived, where the realms didn’t fall into utter chaos.
Where Calamity didn’t get to win.
Cole and I had built trust between each other in this way, me allowing him to prove that he wasn’t going to hurt me, and in return he gave me pleasure.
And, oh, the pleasure this demon could provide blew my mind.
Another orgasmic wave ransacked my body, leaving me limp as he ruthlessly stroked me, making me somehow want more.
So much more.
Giving up, I yanked on his horn. “I want your dick, Cole. Now.”
“Mmm,” he hummed approvingly, retracting his tongue and leaving me empty, but I knew I was about to enjoy something much larger when he came over me and rested his elbows on either side of my head, pinning me beneath him. “I’m glad you’re using your words, little angel.”
Staring up at him with an unblinking challenge, I fisted him, making him snarl. “I’m using my hands, too. That’s how you like it, right?”
Grabbing my wrist, he hauled it over my head and pinned me down, forcing me to flare my wings flat so I didn’t crush any of the sensitive feathers on the fallen angel side. “I like it rough, which is why I haven’t fucked you yet, little angel. You’re not ready.”
It was true, he hadn’t fucked me yet, not really.
He’d used his tongue, his tail, and his fingers with his claws retracted.
But not the part of him that I really wanted, even if it did look big enough to split me in two.
His dick was the largest of my mates. Hard against my abdomen, his silky flesh was blocked by the thin barrier of my skirt he’d pulled up over my hips.
With his free hand he tore the fabric away, tossing what remained of it off the bed.
“I get to decide when I’m ready,” I countered, allowing him to keep me pinned as I spread my legs, encouraging him to go where I wanted him.
He obliged by pressing his heated flesh against mine, but he didn’t enter me, which only frustrated me more. I snarled in response, earning a grin from my sadistic mate.
“Do you still want me to rest?” he asked, that wicked gleam in his bright ruby irises tempting me to fall into sin with him and never look back.
“No rest,” I commanded, my need overwhelming my thoughts and demanding that I take what I needed.
And if my theory was right, this was what Cole needed, too.
He’d been falling unconscious these past few months for a reason. Losing his wings and the majority of his demonic powers affected him more than he realized.
And it affected me, too.
Because my back ached where Kaito had attached the donor wing, black corruption burning across my shoulder that I hid with a spell.
My body was rejecting Cole’s wing.
The possible reasons of why that might be terrified me.
Perhaps I still hadn’t forgiven him.
Perhaps I wasn’t worthy of becoming a true demon of Hell.
Or maybe… I’d chosen the wrong mate.
I prayed to all the gods that fully bonding with him would prove my doubts wrong.
“Fuck me,” I commanded him, arching my hips into him, inviting his ruthless form of passion as my wetness ran down my thighs, my need for him off the charts. “Fuck me or gods help me, Cole, I’ll let Az and Sam jam their swords into you.”
I realized the different meanings my threat could take when Cole’s eyes glittered with mischief.
“Hmm, I think you need to come up with better threats, little angel.” He ran his tongue over my neck, then softly bit, pricking me with his sharp fangs in a way that had my pulse singing.
“Regardless, I can’t wait anymore either, my mate.
” He slowly entered me, making my eyes go wide when the fullness of his girth hinted at the true danger of loving a demon.
“Hold your breath, or you’re going to scream. ”
And then he slammed home, shattering my world with a glorious mixture of pleasure and pain.