Chapter Nine
Becoming the Muffin Consort
When I woke up that morning, the last thing I expected was to be in the demon lord’s quarters hours later, getting hot and heavy.
The taste of Onyx awoke a fire in my belly, his touch fanned the flames, and his intoxicating scent threw gasoline on the burning pyre, sending me toward total annihilation.
I craved him in ways I couldn’t put into words.
It was a soul-deep yearning that could only be appeased like this: the weight of his body on top of mine and our mouths fused together.
“There your heart goes again.” Onyx had settled between my legs and brushed his lips across my ear, pinning both my wrists above my head. “Fluttering so quickly.”
“And whose fault is that?” I responded with a shudder. Pinned beneath him and being at his mercy like a fly caught in a spider’s web thrilled me.
A low chuckle rumbled in his throat before he skimmed his teeth up my jugular and took my earlobe between his teeth, gently biting down. He grinded his hips forward at the same time, and I groaned at the feel of the hard bulge hidden in his trousers.
He had hold of my wrists, preventing me from undressing him. Of doing anything but remain in his web, letting him have total control as he crept in for the kill.
“Onyx.” I arched up into him. “Let me touch you.”
“What happened to using my title?” He nipped at my jaw and slid his hands up from my wrists, linking our fingers above my head. “I’m the ruler of this realm. You should show me more respect.”
“You’re right.” I lightly bumped my head against his, then glided my nose across his cheek.
“Oh, Lord Onyx Blackstone, Ruler of the Realm and Master of Shadows, please show some mercy on this feeble peasant and grant me the usage of my hands so that I may worship His Magnificence in all ways. Starting with removing these bothersome clothes. They are much too drab and offensive by shielding your impeccable form.”
Onyx dropped his head to my shoulder and shook with a quiet laugh. “You’re much too good at that.”
“I’m good at other things too,” I said with a wiggle of my hips. “Now, unhand me at once, demon, so I can show you.”
The moment he released my hands, I grabbed his face and kissed him hard on the mouth, swirling our tongues together.
He made the softest of sounds that had the fire in my veins liquifying, coursing less like a blazing inferno and more like a river flowing toward a cliff, the water churning before free-falling.
I snaked my fingers in his long hair before following the strands down his back, roaming the planes of hard muscle and along the gentle curve of his spine.
I shoved aside any worries about what would happen after we left that bed. Didn’t think about anything but staying in that moment with Onyx, kissing him until I gasped for air and caressing every inch of his lean, yet muscled body.
He caressed me too, tearing off my tunic before exploring the dip of my collarbone, then down my ribs. Farther still to the waistband of my trousers where he unfastened the strings keeping them together and tugged them down my hips.
“So beautiful,” he murmured against my ear, his hand coming around my cock. “The way you moan when I touch you like this.”
“I’m supposed to be the one touching you,” I panted, shuddering as he stroked me from root to tip.
I placed my hands on his chest and moved aside the panels of his outer robe, only to be met with the inner one.
I was desperate to touch him skin on skin.
“Why are there so many layers to this freaking outfit?”
“Are you insulting my way of dress?” Onyx tsked down at me. “And to think I granted you permission to touch me. Seems I have no choice but to rescind that ruling.”
“No,” I whined, slipping my hand beneath the inner robe and touching his bare skin. His body temperature ran a touch hotter than my other men, as though flames flickered inside his veins. “These clothes make you look dashing and elegant. Nothing insulting about them whatsoever. But you know what?”
“Do tell.” The corner of his mouth twitched.
“They’d look even better on the floor.”
Our lips met for another kiss, this one hotter and heavier and laced with the heightening lust building between us.
He allowed me to start undressing him, and I removed the outer robe and flung it aside… but then fumbled with the sash around his waist keeping the inner robe in place. He chuckled and helped me, unfastening it himself. I watched as he slid the last layer of clothing off his bare shoulders.
“You remind me of an imperial prince from ancient times,” I said, palming the cuff of his shoulder and down his toned arms. His pale skin was like pure jade, flawless and smooth. A body sculpted by the finest, deft hands. “From China, maybe. The way you dress and wear your hair.”
A puzzled expression crossed his face. “In which realm does China exist? I’ve not heard of this place.”
“The realm of… Earth,” I answered, gliding my fingertip across his collarbone and the red tattoo-like mark beneath it, thinking of the world I once called home. “Somewhere far away from here.”
“Is Earth where you lived before Bremloc?” he asked, watching me with a smoldering intensity that caused zaps in my bloodstream. He grabbed my hand, stilling it against the red mark on his chest. “A land so far away that not even Nocturne could find you?”
“Yep.” I swallowed to wet my dry throat, hoping the action dislodged the tightness there too. “I’ll tell you everything one day. Where I came from and who I used to be before Bremloc. I promise.”
“But only if I’m good?” Onyx quirked a brow.
I grinned before easing in closer to him, ghosting my lips over his. “Forget about being good for today. I want you to pin me down and fuck me until I can’t even remember my own name.”
Thus ended any further discussion.
He claimed my mouth for another hard kiss as I unfastened his trousers—the last bit of clothing he had left—and worked them lower on his hips.
His erection sprang free, and as he settled back between my legs, it brushed against mine in a tantalizing friction.
It was both pleasing and torturous, like lightly rubbing an itch instead of digging your nails in and scratching to actually satisfy it.
“Why do you whine?” Onyx grabbed my chin between his thumb and index finger and tipped my face up.
“Because I need more,” I said, rolling my hips up into him and causing another slide of our cocks. “So much more.”
“Such a needy little bird.” He smoothed his fingers from my chin up to my bottom lip. “What will I do with you?”
“This is a good start.” I touched his wrist. “No longer pushing me away.”
“A mistake, I’m sure,” he said. “But I find that I can no longer keep my distance from you. I was barely able to walk away from you last night. Doing so again would require more strength than I currently possess.”
“Good.” I smiled up at him, relieved that the hope I’d kept for him in my heart hadn’t been for nothing. “Because I don’t want you to walk away.”
“You truly are foolish. And so na?ve.” Onyx released a low, remorseful-sounding laugh. He lowered his lips back to mine and slid a hand to the base of my neck.
The kiss felt… different. No longer driven by a lustful fervor. It was softer. Slower and more intimate. And for some reason, it caused a shake in my sternum. The hand around my throat slid to my nape, and he cradled the back of my head. Holding on to me like I really was a fragile little bird.
One he could crush with a simple closing of his fist.
But he wouldn’t. I knew that without a doubt in my heart.
Onyx nipped at my bottom lip and softly dragged it between his teeth before dipping his face to the hollow of my throat. I reveled in it all. In the heat of his skin, his heavy, panting kisses, and the intensity of his gaze when clouded with lust.
He grabbed a vial of oil from the bedside table, slicked his fingers, and then placed them at my backside, kissing down my rib cage as he teased my opening.
Brushing his fingertips across but not penetrating.
When he did penetrate, he did so slowly, using only the tip of his finger and moving in a slow circle.
I bit the edge of my lip and fisted the sheet beneath me, watching as he took his time prepping me.
Silky black hair fell over my upper thigh as he bent to kiss the dip of my hip, going knuckle-deep inside me before adding a second finger.
Tingles shot through my system as he nudged that magical knot of nerves.
“Your moans please me,” Onyx murmured against my hip bone, curving his fingers to brush the spot again. “Yet, I feel you can be louder.”
“It’s the middle of the day, Onyx,” I reminded him, voice faltering as I spoke through the haze of tingling pleasure.
“All the more reason to scream.” A smirk played at his lips. “Most everyone is outside the castle.”
“Gentlemen, or gentle-muffins if you will, don’t scream. We moan with class.”
He breathed out a laugh.
Emotion stirred in my heart, kindling the fire inside that burned for him.
Each of my men had their own special piece—a place that belonged only to them.
Onyx’s had felt so cold, frosting over more and more each time he pushed me away.
But as he looked at me right then, the ice crystals started to melt, allowing warmth to flow back in.
Without breaking eye contact, he continued to slide his fingers in and out, his lips parting as I writhed beneath his touch. My moans kicked up a notch as he took my cock into the heat of his mouth, swirling his tongue over my slit, then down the underside.
“It’s not enough,” I said, afflicted by a sudden restlessness. “I need… more.”
Needed to feel more of him. To taste more. And to have his heart beating against mine, our breaths mingling as we lost ourselves in kiss after kiss, our bodies and souls entwined.