Chapter 11 Cravings
CRAVINGS
Rosalind
The chair was no longer underneath Rosalind’s feet, but she didn’t need it. Lazerath’s arms wrapped around her torso, holding her to him as he kissed her. Her legs wrapped around his waist as he walked her back, pressing her against the wall before he ground himself into her.
She was dizzy. Maybe from their conversation. Maybe from the anger that had burst from her chest at Laz doubting himself. Definitely from the way he was kissing her now, matching the hope she’d seen in his eyes moments before he’d consumed her.
His groan rumbled between their chests, hands flexing at her sides, sliding to her thighs and squeezing the flesh there. Encouraging the way her hips ground against his hardness and added to the heat growing.
Shit.
“Shit,” Rose panted, head fuzzy as his teeth nipped her lower lip and she tried to cling to some rational thought. “Laz.”
“Hmm,” he mumbled against her throat.
“We—” She whimpered at the soft way he was now sucking at her pulse point. “Wait.”
Lazerath’s body went stiff, lifting his head away from her skin and slowly set her on the ground. Brows pinched, he licked his lips, which did not help the lusty haze fogging her brain.
“We… can’t.” Gods, the words were painful, especially as that confusion only crinkled his nose further. Rosalind cleared her throat. “There’s… I mean…”
“Is this about Dav?” he asked, and there was no hurt in his voice. Just curiosity. “Because he’s—we’re fine.”
“No. No, that’s not it.” Her cheeks were surely as bright red as Laz’s skin. “The whole… chocolate thing? A really convenient time for Brioni to show up earlier?”
He only blinked back at her.
Thank fuck Mozke had already given Rose the basics, though it was probably a thousand times more embarrassing having to explain this to the demon who she was currently sleeping with.
“I’m on my… well, it’s not monthly—sort of like demons, I guess. Humans usually get it monthly, but I guess my body just likes to fuck around with me. Payback, probably, because I fuck with it constantly being stressed and all—”
“Rose,” Lazerath said, huffing a laugh. “I have no idea what you’re saying.”
“I’m bleeding.”
His teeth clacked shut, and then pure panic took over his features.
“Oh, fuck, okay, where? I can smell it now.” Hands were suddenly on her again, rubbing over her sides, her back and neck—
“Not injury bleeding, Laz,” she squeaked out, scrambling to stop his hands from wandering even further.
Gods, he could smell it?
He stared at her for a long moment. Blinked. Then his eyes widened.
“Oh. Oh!” He shook his head in horror. “Humans get it monthly?”
“Most do. Mozke told me menstruating demons don’t get it that often, so I guess I have that in common. Mine is sort of… unpredictable, painful, and… heavy.”
She whispered the last word, bracing herself.
But Laz’s horror just morphed into sympathy. “Oh, beautiful.”
Twisting her grip so he was in control, he tugged her into his chest, arms and tail wrapping around her in a gentle hug.
Rose… well, she didn’t quite know what to do, not just because her arms were trapped against her sides, but because no one had ever reacted like this.
“The chocolate is a craving, then?” he muttered into the top of her head, hands rubbing soothing patterns along her spine.
“Yeah,” she answered in a daze.
“Well, Dav’s probably already making a whole tray of desserts for you, so we can absolutely have cake for breakfast.”
“Oh.”
“You have everything you need? I don’t think I have stuff here, but I can run out and get stuff. Wait, is that why Brioni came by?”
She managed to wiggle her head out of his grip, perching her chin on his chest so she could look up at him. There was only sincerity on his features. A tiny ache in his gaze that told her he really would drop everything right now to help her.
“N-no. I mean, that was a happy coincidence, since Aofe—”
“The blue one?”
“Yeah, her. She’s been working on a… contraceptive.”
Lazerath gripped her shoulders, holding her at arms length with a mischievous grin. “You think the other humans are having sex with demons?”
“That’s not all a contraceptive can do. It also helps manage—”
“I know, trust me. That is one thing I tried to be aware of when it came to partners,” he teased, then frowned. “Wait, now I’m trying to imagine Sev figuring out sex with a human.”
Rose snorted. “That’s not happening. Ember wouldn’t let him near her.”
“Aw, but Sev’s so nice. Sometimes. I mean, maybe less than Dav, but he’s got a good heart. He can’t cook for shit, but he does like to learn new things. And that place of his would be perfect for little half-demon babies—”
“Oh my gods.”
“I should talk to him. Give him some tips.”
“Laz!” Rosalind laughed. “You cannot give him tips!”
“Why not? He’s not clueless, but it’s been a while since he’s had a partner, and obviously he has no idea that humans are different.”
“Because then he’d know you know about humans!”
“I do.”
“Yes, but then—” She buried her face in her hands. “Then he’d know about me.”
“Yes.”
Rose spread her fingers and peered up at Laz. Saw that determination on his face just as she’d heard it in that single word.
He reached up, pulling her fingers from her face so he could lift her chin. “I’m very serious about you, Rose. And I would be shouting it from the rooftops if I didn’t know you’d hate the attention.”
Her eyes watered. “Laz.”
“It’s gonna be you, me, and Dav, beautiful.
I’m gonna introduce you to my twin, and he’ll know exactly who you are to us.
” Lazerath’s fingers shifted, brushing over her cheek as he tucked a strand of hair over her ear.
“But it will only be the three of us who know how you come so prettily on our tongues.”
Rosalind inhaled sharply, nowhere to go as his hand wrapped around her neck and he crowded her back into the wall again.
“Only Dav and I will know the sounds you make when you’re begging for our cocks.” His head dipped, nose dragging over her pulse as his fingers flexed against her throat. “And tonight, you and I will know how good it feels when I come in this cunt for the first time.”
“What? You can’t.”
She wanted to be more forceful with her protest, but when his other hand slipped under her shirt to cup her breast, she could only whimper.
“You have a contraceptive now,” he whispered against her skin.
“Yes, but…” She managed to swallow the moan trying to escape as his fingers pinched her nipple. “I’m bleeding.”
His teeth nipped at her ear. “And?”
A strange clarity came over her with that word, the panic that had been rising suddenly fading and leaving confusion in its wake.
Laz sensed the conflict within her, leaning back with a gentle smile. “Beautiful, we don’t have to if you’re uncomfortable. You just said they could be painful, so I wanted to make you feel good, and you bleeding doesn’t bother me in the slightest.”
Fuck, he was so caring about it.
Rosalind licked her lips. “It’s just… messy.”
He slipped his hand free from her shirt and watched her, not judging, but with a softness that told her he was internalizing the word and all the feelings she was surely projecting.
Finally, his chin dipped like he’d come to some conclusion in his mind, hands moving to her shoulders to squeeze gently. “Tonight. Would you like to have sex? With me,” he added quickly, smirking.
“Yes.”
There was no hesitation, because yes, of course she wanted to experience that intimacy again.
Before her bleeding had surprised her this morning, she’d been aching for it.
It was possibly the first time she wasn’t nervous at the thought, not when she could vividly remember his eagerness and the way he’d cherished every inch of her that first night.
Lazerath’s smile widened. “I have an idea, and when you hear it, I’ll ask again, okay?”
“Okay?”
His hand found hers, and then he was tugging her up the stairs and down the hall, careful to keep his tail from tripping her.
Just like last time she’d been here, there was no time to admire anything about the two-story place, only that she somehow felt more relaxed and uncertain about what he had in mind when she was trying to disguise the cramping in her lower belly unrelated to her desire.
Those uncertainties increased when she caught sight of his rumpled bed, but then he was pulling her into the attached bathing chamber that she’d not seen yet.
The vanity was a soft-gray tile, stained and cracked in a few places, but oddly tidy for what she’d expected to find. Beside it, the toilet, and then the thing she really hadn’t expected.
“A shower?”
A massive one, too.
Laz grinned over his shoulder at her. “Mozke is keeping the good stuff to themself.”
Rose slipped her hand from his, leaning closer to inspect the overhead pipe and the wall where the two runes were etched. Hot and cold, just like the ones carved into the faucets of the sinks in Heck.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this magical infrastructure,” she muttered. All at once, the realization hit her and she whipped around. “Wait—”
Laz crowded her against the tile, hunger in his gaze. “I would very much like to fuck you against that shower wall, beautiful. What do you think?”
Her mouth opened and closed, but no words came out.
Lazerath smirked. “No concerns about being messy, which I know you wouldn’t stop worrying about if we did this anywhere else.” He shrugged. “Don’t tell me this isn’t on the list that pathetic human didn’t want to try.”
Rosalind let out a shaky breath. “I hate that you know I have a list.”
“No, you don’t,” he teased, leaning closer. “And I want to see and do all of it. But first, yes or no to the shower? Because no matter what, I will be cuddling you in that bed and not letting you leave while I’m asleep.”
The tilt of his head let her know the lengths he would go to make sure she remained until morning.
“Yes,” she whispered against his lips, then closed the distance herself.